PDB Situation Report | August 22nd, 2026: Trump’s Iran Crackdown Could Trigger a Collision With China
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Welcome to the PDP situation report. I'm Mike Baker and your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. President Trump's plan to crush Iran's economy may put Washington on a collision course with China, Tehran's largest remaining oil customer, of course. Joshua Phillip joins us to explain whether Beijing will cooperate or whether they'll continue keeping the Iranian regime alive. Later in the show, Russia pounds Kyiv with one hundred and sixty eight drones and dozens of missiles, killing at least sixteen as Ukraine's air defense has run short. John Hardy, Deputy Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy's Russia program, he stops by to give us his insight. But first, today's PDB spotlight.
President Trump is promising the most crushing economic campaign ever launched against Iran, but its success may well depend on China. Beijing purchases more than eighty percent of Iran's shipped oil, making it Tehran's largest remaining economic lifeline. If China refuses to cooperate, Trump must then decide whether to sanction Chinese banks and refiners and shipping companies, obviously risking. a far larger confrontation with America's most powerful adversary. For more on this, I want to turn to Joshua Phillips. He's a senior investigative reporter at the Epoch Times and the host of the Josh Phillips Show. You can check him out on YouTube at the Josh Phillips Show. Josh, it's great to see you again, man.
Thank you for taking the time to be with us here on the sit rep. Yeah, it's always a pleasure. Thank you. Uh well, thank you. Even if you don't mean it. You know what? I appreciate that. I appreciate the effort. Um, so let me ask you this. Economic D Day. Um he's gonna the president is is is talking about punishing severe consequences, huge consequences, if uh countries don't cooperate, if uh they continue to do business of any sort or banks and whatever uh starts to do any business with with Tehran, uh they're gonna suffer severe consequences. Do you think China cares?
Uh they do care. Uh they they care a lot. I I think the question is whether Trump is willing to deal with the possible repercussions of it. You know, the so basically what's happening right now, you know, for a long time Trump keeps saying, you know, Iran, this is your final warning. You know, tomorrow your whole country will cease to exist, and you know, so on and so on. And then, you know, the next day comes around, he's like, Hey, I changed my mind. You know, we had conversations. And and everything's fine now, and we're gonna make a deal, and then it doesn't happen. Right? He he's been going back and forth like this like pretty often. The latest is something very different though. What he's saying is he's announcing, you know, Scott Besson, Treasury Department, right?
Uh, they're announcing the largest ever sanctions. And basically, this is not just sanctions on like effectively the entire Iranian economy, probably every c every Iranian leader, because um some updates on this, they actually have managed to trace even all their hidden wealth, which they couldn't do before.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–5:38
2
How could President Trump's plan to crush Iran's economy trigger a collision with China?
5:38–10:53
3
Will China cooperate with the U.S. sanctions on Iran or keep the regime alive?
10:53–17:32
4
What are the economic implications for China if U.S. sanctions cripple Iran’s oil sales?
17:32–52:40
5
How is the Chinese Communist Party responding to internal social unrest and economic pressure?
52:40–59:50
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The President's Daily Brief
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