PDB Afternoon Bulletin | June 6th, 2025: China Secretly Helps Iran Rebuild Ballistic Missile Arsenal & Putin Unleashes Brutal Revenge Strikes Across Ukraine
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It's Friday, the 6th of June. It's the 81st anniversary of D-Day. Now, my father was in the Army Air Corps in World War II. They call his the greatest generation. You'll get no argument from me. They absolutely were.

Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First, Iran is reportedly rebuilding their military arsenal with the assistance of China, recently ordering thousands of tons of ballistic materials that could produce up to 800 missiles. We'll have those details later.

And later in the show, Russia unleashes one of their largest drone and missile barrages against Ukraine of the three-year war in retaliation for Ukraine's shocking drone assault on Moscow's strategic bomber fleet. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. We'll begin today with Iran, where it appears that the mullahs are attempting to restock their diminished military supplies and bolster their battered proxy network, all while sort of engaging in

discussions with the Trump administration on their nuclear program, and China is playing a key role in Iran's restocking efforts. According to an exclusive report from the Wall Street Journal, Iran has ordered thousands of tons of ballistic missile materials from China in recent months. Specifically, sources said the Islamic regime is importing ammonium perchlorate, which is used to produce solid-fuel missiles.

The Chinese are reportedly providing enough of this critical compound to the Iranians to produce as many as 800 ballistic missiles. Now, sources familiar with the transaction told the Journal that some of the materials will be likely distributed to Iran's network of proxies, including regional militias such as Hezbollah and the Houthi militants of Yemen, who continue to bombard Israel with missile attacks.

Much of the material, however, is expected to stay inside Iran's borders as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, works to rebuild missile production plants that were damaged or destroyed by Israeli retaliatory strikes last October.

The Journal said that the purchase orders were made by the IRGC through a Hong Kong-based firm. Ah, hello? Yes, I'd like to buy some ballistic missile materials, please. Those orders were likely placed before the Trump administration began nuclear negotiations with the mullahs. The activity suggests that leaders in Tehran are actively preparing for renewed conflict across the region.

The new shipments follow orders of roughly 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate that's a precursor for producing ammonium perchlorate that were delivered from China to Iran in mid-February and late March. Those orders provided enough materials reportedly to fuel roughly 260 short-range missiles. Now, the Mullahs are reportedly eager to re-establish their so-called "axis of resistance"

which was largely laid to waste by Israeli military operations over the past 18 months. Some experts fear that they're using the slow, drawn-out nuclear negotiations with the U.S. as a distraction to bide time for these rebuilding efforts. As we've been tracking here on the PDB, those negotiations, if you can call them that, aren't really progressing.

On Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected a revised nuclear proposal from the U.S. that would allow the regime to continue low-level uranium enrichment for civilian use in exchange for phased sanctions relief. Khamenei blasted the proposal, saying, "...the rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?"

Well, somebody's feeling feisty. President Trump later walked back the reported proposal, saying his administration will "not allow any enrichment of uranium." After Khamenei's fiery remarks, Trump also warned that "time is running out on Iran's decision pertaining to nuclear weapons," hinting that he may soon ditch diplomatic efforts in favor of decisive military action against Iran's nuclear facilities.

That would likely be done in coordination with Israel, which has long advocated for targeted strikes to cripple Iran's enrichment capabilities. Leaders in Israel see Iran's nuclear sites as uniquely vulnerable due to the collapse of their once-strong network of proxy groups over the past year and say the time to act is now before Iran has a chance to rearm.

While recent reports suggested Israel was gearing up for unilateral strikes against Iran, a report from Axios on Thursday revealed that Israeli officials recently told the White House they would not take action unless President Trump signals that nuclear negotiations have failed.

China, meanwhile, is feigning ignorance over the matter. A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said that they were unaware of any contract between the Hong Kong-based firm and the Iranian regime, adding, "...the Chinese side has always exercised strict control over dual-use items in accordance with China's export control laws and regulations and its international obligations."

Coming up next, Russia unleashes one of their largest drone and missile barrages against Ukraine since the war began. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. As we discussed earlier on the PDB, Vladimir Putin had vowed swift retaliation against Ukraine over their surprising drone assault on Moscow's strategic bomber fleet and then followed through with his revenge on Friday. In a brutal assault, Russia launched one of their largest barrages of missiles and drones of the war to date, killing at least three civilians and damaging buildings across the country.

The attack began after midnight and lasted for roughly five hours, with the Ukrainian capital Kyiv taking the brunt of the vicious bombardment. The Ukrainian Air Force said Moscow launched a total of 407 drones and decoys, along with nearly 40 cruise missiles and six ballistic missiles, at cities and towns throughout the country. That's according to on-the-ground reports from Reuters and The New York Times.

It was officially the second largest drone assault of the war following an attack last weekend that saw Russia launch nearly 500 drones. Friday's attack killed at least three people, all of them first responders who had rushed to the scene of one of the strikes and left another 49 people injured nationwide.

Russia's defense ministry said in a statement that the assault was retaliation for what they described as "terrorist acts" by Ukraine, referencing last Sunday's crippling drone blitz on Russian airfields. We should note, however, that Ukraine's operation targeted strategic military aircraft regularly used in cruise missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and reportedly did not result in any injuries to military or civilian personnel.

Moscow's response on Friday, meanwhile, well, put civilians directly in the line of fire. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy denounced the attack in a statement saying, "Russia doesn't change its stripes, another massive strike on cities and ordinary life. They targeted almost all of Ukraine." Ukraine's foreign minister echoed that statement, saying, "Russia responded to its destroyed aircraft by attacking civilians in Ukraine."

Several multi-story buildings were reportedly struck and civilian energy infrastructure was severely damaged during the bombardment. Ukrainian officials said that over the past several months, Russia has launched an average of more than 1,000 drones per week at military and civilian targets.

Zelenskyy reiterated his call for Ukraine's Western allies to ramp up pressure on Russia in the wake of the attack. The Trump administration has been reluctant to slap Russia with fresh sanctions despite the urging of Kyiv and EU leaders, favoring continued diplomatic engagement, such as it may be. In what could be read as a swipe at the White House, Zelenskyy said Friday, "If someone is not applying pressure and is giving the war more time to take lives,

That is complicity and accountability. We must act decisively." As we discussed earlier on the PDB, Trump says he'll reassess within two weeks whether Putin is serious about reaching a negotiated settlement. Though it remains unclear what metrics he's using to gauge Putin's sincerity. Seriously? There's no metric sensitive enough to identify even a hint of sincerity in Putin.

And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Friday, the 6th of June. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. And to listen to the show ad-free, well, it's simple. Just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com.

And remember to tune in to the first TV this evening at 10pm for the latest episode of our extended weekend show, the PDB Situation Report. You can also catch it, of course, and past episodes on our soon-to-be-critically-acclaimed YouTube channel. You can find our YouTube channel at President's Daily Brief, and of course, podcast platforms throughout podcast land. We're

We're diving deep this week into the Ukrainian drone operation that targeted Russia's bomber fleet and examining the possibility of a civilian uprising in Gaza as Hamas battles rival militias looking to exert control. I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back over the weekend with the PDB's Situation Report. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.