The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 1st, 2025: Is Iran Setting A ‘Trump Trap’? & America’s Own ‘Iron Dome’ System
01 Feb 2025
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: Iranian leaders are reportedly instructing their proxy forces to hold back, fearing they may provoke President Donald Trump. Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies joins us to analyze Tehran’s strategy. President Trump has signed new executive orders calling for a multilayered homeland air defense system, including space-based interceptors. Brandon Weichert, author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, breaks down the technology behind what some are calling "America’s Iron Dome." 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
Full Episode
Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll start things off today in the Middle East, where Iranian leaders are reportedly telling their proxies to lay low out of fear of antagonizing President Trump.
Bennett Ben-Talibu of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies will give us his insights into Tehran's strategy. Later in the show, President Trump's latest executive orders include a push for a multi-layered homeland air defense system requiring the development of space-based interceptors.
Now, Brandon Weicker, author of Winning Space, How America Remains a Superpower, that's a great book, by the way, and you should pick it up, breaks down the technology behind what's being called America's Iron Dome. But first, today's Situation Report Spotlight.
Iran is reportedly urging its proxy forces, and there are a number of them, to stand down, fearing that provoking Donald Trump could spark a crisis that threatens the regime's survival. It's all about holding onto power for them.
According to an exclusive Telegraph report, Tehran is quietly ordering militias in Iraq and Yemen to halt attacks on US assets, warning them not to use Iranian-made weapons if they do act. Oh. A senior Iranian source put it bluntly, the regime feels an existential threat with Trump's return. Iran's leadership has reason to be worried.
Trump's first term saw the maximum pressure campaign, crippling sanctions, and the targeted killing of Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani. Now, with their proxy war against Israel in shambles, and Bashar al-Assad, of course, ousted in Syria, Iran's regional power has been severely weakened. So, you ask yourself, what does this restraint signal for the Middle East?
Well, joining us to break it down is Bena Ben-Taliblu, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Bena, thanks very much for joining us here on The Situation Report. Always great to be with you. Happy New Year to you and the listeners. And to you as well. I hope your 2025 is off to a good start. I guess let's go from the 30,000-foot view.
What do you make of this report that the Iranian regime is essentially telling their proxies to sit on ice, don't attack, don't provoke, lay low?
What do you make of that? Well, it's consistent. It's consistent with patterns of Iranian national security behavior in the past. It's consistent with a theory I have as to how Iran's Supreme Leader and Commander-in-Chief is trying to set the chessboard for the short-term future. And that is there's a Trump trap being set right now in Tehran.
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