June 20th, 2025: Trump Keeps The World Guessing On Iran Attack Plans & China's Hacking Campaign To Steal Russia's Military Secrets
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It's Friday, the 20th of June. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Alright, let's get briefed. First, we'll have the latest on the war between Israel and Iran, as reports claim that President Trump has approved attack plans against the Islamic regime. But Trump is keeping everyone guessing, pushing back on the reports, and saying that he'll make a decision on whether to join Israel's campaign within the next two weeks.

Later in the show, cracks are beginning to show beneath the surface of Russia and China's publicly very chummy alliance. I might use the word chummy. A new report reveals that the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, has been engaged in a widespread hacking campaign against the Putin regime in pursuit of military secrets ever since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

Plus, Putin claims he's ready to end the war and directly meet with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, while in the same breath, he's questioning Zelenskyy's legitimacy and reiterating his ultimatums for a ceasefire. We'll break down the latest doublespeak from the Kremlin. And in today's Back of the Brief, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis leads the evacuation of 1,500 stranded Jewish Americans from Israel as the war intensifies with Iran.

But first, today's PDB Spotlight. We'll begin today with the latest on the war between Israel and Iran, as White House sources say that President Trump has approved attack plans against the mullahs, but is currently holding back in the hopes that diplomacy can prevail.

Now, according to an exclusive report from the Wall Street Journal, citing three people familiar with current deliberations, the president gave his official sign-off on a potential military operation on Tuesday. As we've been tracking, Trump has also publicly stated in recent days that the U.S. could soon join Israel's military campaign against the mullahs, now entering its eighth day. Earlier this week, the U.S. redeployed the USS Nimitz carrier strike group to the Middle East.

and mobilized a large number of aerial refueling tankers to forward operating bases in Europe, suggesting a U.S. military option is at the ready. Now, as our listeners know, much of the speculation surrounds potential U.S. strikes on the Fordow Underground Nuclear Enrichment Facility.

Israel has reportedly been trying to persuade the U.S. to join their campaign as the U.S. is the only country with the planes and bombs needed to effectively penetrate and destroy the heavily fortified nuclear site.

But the sources told the Journal that Trump is hoping that the threat of a US attack will be enough to force Iran to capitulate to his demands that they end their pursuit of nuclear weapons and dismantle all domestic enrichment capabilities. In typical Trump fashion, the president was quick to respond to the latest speculations. In a Truth Social post on Thursday morning, Trump slammed the Journal's report, saying, "The Wall Street Journal has no idea what my thoughts are concerning Iran."

Later on Thursday, the president issued a statement through White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt saying that U.S. military action was not imminent. Trump said, quote, based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.

Levitt added that Trump remains committed to preventing the mullahs from obtaining a nuclear weapon and said any potential deal would have to prohibit enrichment of uranium by Tehran and eliminate the regime's ability to achieve a nuclear weapon. She added, quote, "...the president is always interested in a diplomatic solution. He is a peacemaker-in-chief. He's the peace-through-strength president, and so if there's a chance for diplomacy, the president's always going to grab it."

End quote. The update from Trump came as reports surfaced on Thursday that the president's special envoy, Steve Witkopf, has spoken several times with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aradji since Israel began strikes on the regime's nuclear program last Friday.

According to three diplomats that spoke exclusively to Reuters, the pair have discussed the US proposal given to Iran at the end of May, which the regime has so far rejected. That proposal would put an end to domestic uranium enrichment in Iran but create a regional consortium that would, in theory, supply Iran with uranium for civilian energy purposes.

but the sources added that the iranians continue to dig in their heels the foreign minister relayed to whitcoff that iran will not return to the negotiating table unless israel stops their military campaign aragshi reportedly said that if quote washington pressured israel to end the war then the regime quote could show flexibility in the nuclear issue now

Frankly, Iran's ability to make demands regarding the negotiations is shrinking with every successful Israeli attack on their infrastructure and leadership. As we've been tracking, Israel's campaign has taken out numerous key leaders within their military and Revolutionary Guard Corps, decimated the regime's arsenal of ballistic missiles, and significantly degraded their offensive launch capabilities, though not entirely.

Iran did fire another wave of missiles and drones at Israel early Thursday morning, hitting a hospital in the southern city of Beersheba. While no one was killed in the strike, officials said it destroyed several wards and wounded 40 people.

But Israel is keeping the pressure up on Iran, once again striking Iran's Natanz, Isfahan and Kandab nuclear sites on Thursday. Multiple sources from Israel and the U.S., said leaders in Jerusalem, are now seeking to destabilize Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's government and leave it near collapse. When asked about the potential for regime change, Prime Minister Netanyahu said Thursday that, quote, "...that may be a result."

but it's up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom. But we may create conditions that will help them do it, end quote. Coming up next, a new report reveals that China has been engaged in a widespread hacking campaign against the Putin regime in pursuit of military secrets. And Putin dubiously claims that he's willing to meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky. Of course, Putin is all about the peace. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the PDB. While China and Russia have spent the past few years flaunting a so-called no-limits partnership, Chinese Communist Party-linked hackers have been repeatedly breaching Moscow's government systems in search of military secrets regarding the war in Ukraine. A classified counterintelligence document from Russia's domestic security agency, the FSB, obtained by the New York Times,

refers to China as the "enemy." The document warns that Beijing is siphoning off Moscow's hard-won battlefield insights to fuel its own military ambitions.

Among the primary targets is Rosetec, a defense conglomerate at the heart of Russia's military-industrial complex. The FSB says CCP cyber groups have dramatically and systematically targeted the firm to extract intelligence on radar systems, satellite communications, and electronic warfare capabilities.

The CCP-linked cyber intrusions began accelerating in May 2022, just months after Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the intrusions haven't slowed since. One particularly brazen operation came in 2023 when a Chinese-linked group known as Sanyo impersonated the email system of a Russian engineering firm to steal data on nuclear submarines, according to Taiwan-based cybersecurity firm Team T5.

While China and Russia pledged in 2009 and again in 2015 not to hack each other, well, the hacking spree suggests Beijing views the Kremlin as less of an equal partner and more of a vulnerable source of battlefield insights, intel that could one day shape a future war over Taiwan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping may boast of advanced military hardware, but his troops lack real-world combat experience. Analysts say the Ukraine war offers a rare real-time window into Western weaponry and drone warfare, all gleaned from Russia's frontline engagements. Much of the hacking has been attributed to state-sponsored groups, most notably Mustang Panda. That's one of China's most prolific cyber espionage teams. Although little is known about its origins,

Mustang Panda's operations have long mirrored Beijing's global economic and military strategies. Initially, they focused on Belt and Road Initiative projects in Africa and Southeast Asia, before expanding into Europe and Russia after the war began. In January, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment linking Mustang Panda to the infection of thousands of devices worldwide, including government computers across Europe and Asia.

The group is widely believed to operate under the direction of China's Ministry of State Security. Russia, for its part, has stayed conspicuously silent. But in 2023, Moscow-based cybersecurity firm Positive Technologies acknowledged that cyberattacks had hit Russia's aerospace and defense sectors. Many of the attacks reportedly used a sophisticated malware tool called DEEDRAT, that's software almost exclusively used by Chinese intelligence services.

Analysts say Chinese operatives have also used malicious Microsoft Word files to penetrate Russian aviation firms and state agencies. Despite official silence, the scale and persistence of these efforts suggest that CCP-linked cyber attacks are not isolated incidents but part of a systematic campaign.

Alright, shifting to the war in Ukraine. Putin says he's ready to negotiate peace with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, but he continues to cast doubt on whether Zelenskyy has the authority to sign a deal.

Speaking to reporters late Wednesday on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Putin said talks between Russian and Ukrainian working groups could resume as early as next week, but he said a one-on-one summit with Zelensky would only occur after both sides had hammered out the terms of a deal.

Even then, he questioned whether Zelensky's presidency, extended under wartime martial law, remains legally valid, repeating a favored Kremlin narrative aimed at undercutting Kiev's democratic legitimacy. Putin stated, "We are ready to meet, and by the way, I said I am ready to meet with everyone, including Zelensky," adding, "But that is not the question. The question is, who will sign the documents?"

Despite those remarks, Putin insisted Russia remains committed to ending the war "as soon as possible." He said discussions are ongoing through a humanitarian channel and suggested that formal peace negotiations could resume after Sunday.

But if this sounds like progress, don't get your hopes up. Russia's peace demands remain unchanged and very one-sided. Kyiv would have to renounce its NATO bid, adopt neutrality, cede five regions, including some that Russia doesn't fully control, reduce its military footprint, and end all cooperation with Western defense partners. In effect, the demands amount to total Ukrainian capitulation.

As we've discussed here on the PDB, Ukraine has flatly rejected those terms and accuses Moscow of dragging out negotiations in bad faith. And it's worth noting that Thursday marked 100 days since Ukraine agreed to a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal, which Russia has consistently ignored.

Putin, meanwhile, continues to point fingers. He told reporters, "We are ready for substantive negotiations on the settlement principles. All it takes is that the Ukrainian side is ready to act wisely." The Russian leader even took it a step further, urging Ukraine's allies to "accept the current reality" and pressure Kyiv to compromise, warning that if no deal is reached, "we will seek to achieve our goals by military methods."

President Trump, who pushed the American ceasefire proposal and voiced tentative support for some of Russia's red lines, such as barring Ukraine from NATO, has since pulled back from active mediation. While Trump hasn't walked away from diplomacy altogether, White House officials say the administration is adopting a more cautious posture as the stalemate drags on.

On the battlefield, Moscow's gains remain, well, modest. Independent analysts say Russian forces have advanced slightly near Sumy in the northeast and in parts of Donetsk in the east, but Kremlin claims of efficient progress are not substantiated. However, Russia's air campaign has continued unabated. Earlier this week, a Russian missile strike on a residential building in Kyiv killed 23 civilians. Zelenskyy condemned the attack on Telegram, calling it "fresh evidence"

that Moscow isn't serious about peace, posting, quote, Russia rejects the ceasefire and chooses to kill. Still, there are flickers of diplomacy. Both sides confirmed another prisoner swap this week and part of a broader agreement struck in Istanbul earlier this month to eventually release 1,000 captives apiece. It's unclear just how many soldiers were freed this week.

Alright, coming up next in the back of the brief, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis leads the evacuation of some 1,500 stranded Jewish Americans from Israel as the war with Iran intensifies. I'll have those details next.

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In today's Back of the Brief, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken the lead on evacuating Jewish Americans stranded in the Middle East amid the intensifying war between Israel and Iran. Earlier this week, DeSantis stepped into charter four flights to bring roughly 1,500 Jewish Americans back home to safety. For some background, a group of more than 4,000 Americans had been on a 10-day trip to Israel when the war broke out last Friday.

The trip had been organized through a program called Birthright Israel, which provides trips to the Holy Land for young Americans of Jewish descent.

With Israeli airspace closed due to the threat from Iran's missile strikes, the group had to quickly find alternative paths out of the country. According to a report from Fox News, after spending days sheltering in bomb bunkers, 1,500 members of the group were evacuated from Israel on Tuesday morning aboard an Israeli cruise ship, which then took them to the nearby island nation of Cyprus under the protection of the Israeli Navy.

The CEO of Birthright Israel said it was a, quote, complex and emotional operation carried out under immense pressure, and we are proud to have brought 1,500 young adults safely to Cyprus. DeSantis and the Florida Department of Emergency Management then stepped in, volunteering four wide-body planes to return the Americans stateside.

The first flight arrived in Cyprus late Wednesday evening, but the evacuation efforts are still ongoing. One of the evacuees recounted the moment when an Iranian rocket landed close to the building that they were staying in, telling a CBS News affiliate, quote, We literally heard and felt the shake of the building when we were running down to the shelter. We felt the whole building shake because a rocket had hit. They said their group had, quote, spent the last week going to bomb shelters every single night and barely getting any sleep.

the vice president of the florida-based broward jewish federation thanked the governor for his swift efforts to bring the young americans home they said their group is working around the clock to get any additional participants out of the country adding quote thank god for the iron dome and thank god for israel having a very developed text alert system officials said that the remainder of the international participants in the birthright israel trip have chosen to depart via other means or stay in israel with family members

And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Friday, the 20th of June. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. And if you get the chance, take a bit of time out of your busy schedule to check out and subscribe to our YouTube channel. You can find that at President's Daily Brief.

I'm Mike Baker, still on the road, and I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Welcome to It Takes Energy, presented by Energy Transfer, where we talk all things oil and natural gas. Oil and gas drive our economy, ensure our country's security, and open pathways to brighter futures.

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