The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | January 7th, 2025: Will Trump Strike Iran's Nuclear Program? & Biden Frees Gitmo Prisoners For Resettlement In Oman
Tue, 07 Jan 2025
In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: First, we’ll look at Donald Trump’s plans for the Iranian regime, as Israeli officials say they are confidant the president-elect will back an IDF strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, or even mount his own preemptive strike when he returns to office. Then, the Biden administration has announced the transfer of 11 Yemeni detainees from the Guantanamo Bay military prison to Oman for resettlement, including two prisoners who served as bodyguards for Osama bin Laden. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are Donald Trump's plans for Iran?
First, we'll look at Donald Trump's plans for the Iranian regime as Israeli officials say that they're confident that the president-elect will back an IDF strike on Iran's nuclear facilities or even mount his own preemptive strike when he returns to office.
Then, the Biden administration has announced the transfer of 11 Yemeni detainees from the Guantanamo Bay Military Prison to Oman for resettlement, including two prisoners who served as bodyguards for Osama bin Laden. But first, our afternoon spotlight.
Chapter 2: What recent actions has the Biden administration taken regarding Gitmo prisoners?
With just two weeks to go until Donald Trump assumes office, the president-elect is setting his sights on Iran, particularly what the US can do to undermine the regime's atomic ambitions. According to an exclusive report from Axios, Israeli officials believe Trump will either support an Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities or direct the U.S.
military to launch its own preemptive strike on the sites. The report cites two sources close to Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who met with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago back in November.
Chapter 3: What is the current status of Iran's nuclear ambitions?
Dermer, a close advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu, reportedly came away from the meeting confident that Israel will have a strong strategic partner in Trump when it comes to dealing with the increasing nuclear threat posed by Iran.
The revelation comes as leaders in Jerusalem are increasingly considering a strike of their own on Iran's nuclear sites due to ongoing ballistic missile attacks on their cities by the Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.
They also feel that the regime in Iran has been significantly weakened due to their proxy war against Israel and that now may offer an historic opportunity to end the mullahs' dreams of a bomb.
In an interesting wrinkle, Axios reported that in recent weeks, senior advisors to President Biden had also privately encouraged him to strike Iran's nuclear program before Trump takes office, though others inside the administration reportedly pushed back. With only two weeks now remaining in his term, those discussions have reportedly stopped.
Regarding Trump, it remains unclear what his preferred path forward will be. Despite the speculation regarding a potential strike on Iran, other unnamed sources close to Trump told Axios that he'll likely attempt to strike a new nuclear agreement with Tehran before turning to possible military options.
Trump, the dealmaker, is keen on avoiding further regional escalation in the Middle East, particularly a scenario that could pull in U.S. forces. Just last week, Iran's foreign minister said his country is eager to restart nuclear talks with the U.S. once Trump returns to office.
As a reminder, in 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the nuclear deal, was reached between Iran, the US, and five other world powers.
The deal restricted Iran's nuclear capabilities in exchange for sanctions relief and extensive UN oversight, though Iran was quickly accused of flouting the terms of the deal, not to mention that there were several sites that the Iranian regime insisted be off-limits from any monitoring efforts. The U.S. withdrawal from the deal under Trump in 2018 marked a turning point.
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Chapter 4: How has Iran's position changed recently?
Sanctions were reimposed as part of a maximum pressure strategy by the then-Trump administration, to which Iran responded by stepping back from its commitments, notably increasing uranium enrichment to 60% purity and restricting access to certain nuclear sites, which, frankly, they had already done during the course of the agreement.
Now, with their network of proxies crippled by Israel and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, Iran is in a significantly weakened position. Due to this isolation, fears are growing among US and Israeli intelligence officials that Iran may pivot to further accelerating their development of a nuclear weapon.
French President Emmanuel Macron was the latest to warn about Iran's renewed pursuit of a bomb, saying on Monday that the regime's nuclear program was nearing, quote, the point of no return. Given the stakes, we expect this issue to be front and center when Trump returns to the Oval Office on January 20th.
Whether Trump will opt for a military option is, well, frankly, at this point, anyone's guess. But despite his reported desire to avoid escalation, he did warn last month that there's a chance the US could go to war against the mullahs, saying, quote, Anything can happen.
Coming up, the Biden administration has announced the transfer of 11 Yemeni detainees from the Guantanamo Bay military prison, Gitmo, to Oman for resettlement, including two prisoners who served as bodyguards for Osama bin Laden. We'll discuss that story when we return. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let's talk about trees, shall we? And plants. Oh, and don't forget shrubs.
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Chapter 5: What historical context is important for understanding Iran's nuclear deal?
Chapter 6: What could Trump's strategy be for dealing with Iran?
French President Emmanuel Macron was the latest to warn about Iran's renewed pursuit of a bomb, saying on Monday that the regime's nuclear program was nearing, quote, the point of no return. Given the stakes, we expect this issue to be front and center when Trump returns to the Oval Office on January 20th.
Whether Trump will opt for a military option is, well, frankly, at this point, anyone's guess. But despite his reported desire to avoid escalation, he did warn last month that there's a chance the US could go to war against the mullahs, saying, quote, Anything can happen.
Coming up, the Biden administration has announced the transfer of 11 Yemeni detainees from the Guantanamo Bay military prison, Gitmo, to Oman for resettlement, including two prisoners who served as bodyguards for Osama bin Laden. We'll discuss that story when we return. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let's talk about trees, shall we? And plants. Oh, and don't forget shrubs.
Now, did you know that Fast Growing Trees is the biggest online nursery in the U.S.? It's true. With thousands of different plants and over, get this, 2 million happy customers. They have all the plants your yard needs, like fruit trees, privacy trees, flowering trees, shrubs, and so much more.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of the transfer of Gitmo detainees?
It's important to note that efforts to execute this transfer began three years ago with an initial transfer set for October of 2023, but that plan was aborted due to congressional opposition.
The Defense Department expressed gratitude to Oman for agreeing to resettle the detainees, stating, quote, The United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility.
Authorities have not disclosed why Oman was chosen or what the U.S. gave the host country, but the nation is recognized as a stable U.S. ally in the Middle East. According to the New York Times, the U.S. typically provides host countries with financial support for housing, education, rehabilitation, and monitoring of the activities of former detainees.
This transfer leaves Guantanamo Bay with just 15 detainees, six who have never been charged, two convicted prisoners, and seven others facing charges in high-profile terrorism cases, including the 9-11 attacks, the USS Cole bombing, and the 2002 Bali bombings.
In its final two weeks, the Biden administration's push to clear Guantanamo Bay of uncharged detainees has now resulted in the lowest prisoner count since the detention center was opened in 2002. Of course, the center, Gitmo as it's commonly called, has faced widespread criticism over the years for holding individuals indefinitely without trial.
And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Tuesday, 7 January. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. And of course, to listen to the show ad-free, well, it is simple. Become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow.
Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.
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