PDB Weekend Report | June 15th, 2025: How Israel Thwarted a Deadlier Iranian Retaliation & Trump’s Role in Deceiving Iran Revealed
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It's Sunday, the 15th of June. Welcome to a special weekend edition of the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. And yes, happy Father's Day to all you dads that are out there listening. My father has long since passed on, but he was frankly the greatest man that I'll ever meet. He was loyal, he was honest, hardworking, he was filled with humor, and entirely dedicated to my mother and family. All right.

for this special edition. Let's get briefed. First up, Iran is striking back against Israel, and today we're learning that things could have been much worse for Israel during the course of their retaliation. Later in the show, how Israel and the United States pulled off a high-stakes deception campaign to fool Iran into thinking that a strike wasn't coming, and how even President Trump played a key role in that con. But first, our weekend spotlight.

Thousands of Israelis have been spending their evenings in bomb shelters, bracing for incoming fire as Iran launches waves of missiles and drones in retaliation for Israel's air campaign targeting Iran's nuclear and military infrastructure. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the IDF, Iran fired roughly 100 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones. While that number is far less than what many had feared,

the scale of the attack still triggered nationwide alerts, sending civilians scrambling for cover, and it marked one of the largest direct assaults on Israeli territory in years.

Now, the vast majority of those projectiles were intercepted by Israel's sophisticated multi-layered air defense system. That includes the Iron Dome, which handles short-range rocket threats, David's Sling, which covers medium-range missiles, and the Aero system, which is designed to take out long-range ballistic missile threats.

Together, these platforms have proven highly effective at neutralizing incoming fire from a wide variety of threats. But, like any defense system, it's not foolproof. Several Iranian missiles managed to penetrate those defenses yesterday, likely due to the volume of incoming threats. At least three people have been reported killed, with dozens more injured. Now, that number could have been much higher were it not for Israel's extensive network of civilian bomb shelters.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, said in a statement that it had launched what it's dubbed Operation True Promise 3, targeting what it described as dozens of Israeli military facilities, including air bases. Iranian state media is reporting that these strikes are just the beginning, with more retaliation planned. Iran's initial barrage came roughly 18 hours after Israel began its own offensive campaign, striking deep inside Iranian territory.

Now, Israeli warplanes have hit a range of high-value targets across Tehran and beyond, including nuclear facilities, missile bases, radar stations, and now reportedly elements of Iran's air force. Early morning Saturday, Israel reportedly struck Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, targeting a panger believed to house fighter jets. Service-to-air missile systems were also reportedly destroyed. The strikes appear to be continuing in waves.

Meanwhile, Iran has confirmed the deaths of two more senior military leaders, the deputy chief of operations and the deputy intelligence chief of the armed forces. Those confirmations come just one day after Israel killed six top commanders, including IRGC leader Hossein Salami and Iran's overall military chief, Mohammad Bagheri.

In total, Israel claims to have killed more than 20 Iranian military commanders since their operation began. Iran's ambassador to the UN now claims 78 people have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes so far, with over 320 wounded. Those numbers are hard to independently confirm.

We've also learned that the U.S. is actively involved in Israel's defense. U.S. officials confirmed that American air defense systems, including one deployed via a Navy destroyer in the eastern Mediterranean, helped to intercept ballistic missiles during this weekend's attacks from Iran. In response to the strikes, the U.S. is now repositioning additional military assets to the region.

Axios reports that the Navy has ordered the USS Thomas Hudner, a destroyer equipped for ballistic missile defense, to begin moving toward the eastern Mediterranean. Another destroyer has also been directed to move forward to support operations if needed. American fighter jets are now patrolling the skies across the region to protect U.S. personnel and assets, and air bases across the Middle East are taking additional security precautions.

But perhaps the most revealing update in all of this is the story behind what didn't happen. According to new reporting from the New York Times, Iran originally planned to launch up to 1,000 ballistic missiles at Israel. That massive response was meant to overwhelm Israel's defenses and deliver a devastating blow. But, well, it never materialized. And why? Well, I'm glad you asked. It's because Israel's surprise strike

destroyed key components of that plan. The opening wave of Israeli attacks wiped out critical missile bases, dismantled radar and command infrastructure, and killed a number of senior commanders during an emergency war council. When the dust settled, Iran's ability to mobilize and launch those thousand missiles had been shattered. In the end, they managed to launch only around a hundred, that's just one-tenth of what had been intended.

It's a stark illustration of the damage that Israel has already inflicted coming up after the break. We'll explain how a coordinated deception campaign with help from President Trump convinced Iran to stand down just days before the bombs dropped. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back to this special weekend edition of the PDB. We're now learning that Israel's strike on Iran's nuclear program wasn't just a military operation. It was also a deception campaign weeks in the making. And according to Israeli officials, former US President Trump was in on it. Here's how it played out. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly gave the green light to strike Iran. That same day, he spoke with Trump for roughly 40 minutes.

Soon after, leaks emerged claiming Trump had urged Israel not to attack and instead focus on nuclear negotiations with Iran. But that, we now know, was part of a ruse. The misdirection, well, didn't stop there. On Tuesday, Netanyahu publicly claimed that hostage talks with Hamas had made "significant progress." His foreign minister echoed the message. Reporters were told Thursday's cabinet meeting would focus on the hostage issue.

But behind the scenes, Israeli officials say this was all meant to distract Iran and deflect attention from military preparations. To reinforce the deception, Netanyahu's office announced a diplomatic mission. Mossad Chief David Barnea and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer were supposedly headed to meet with the U.S. Special Envoy ahead of upcoming nuclear talks. That meeting, it turns out, was never even scheduled.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu insisted he would not cancel his weekend vacation in northern Israel, and security preparations continued for his son's upcoming wedding, signals all designed to convince both the public and Iran that war was not imminent. Trump, for his part, told reporters that an Israeli strike "could very well happen" but publicly advised against it. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee added that Israel likely wouldn't move without a green light from Washington.

Now, this playbook isn't new. Israel pulled a similar maneuver before its 2008 operation in Gaza. Now, a measure of just how well this latest deception campaign worked is the significant resulting damage done to Iran's military infrastructure, leadership, and nuclear facilities as a result of Iran being caught off guard.

And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief special edition for Sunday, the 15th of June. To listen to the show ad-free, of course, well, you can do that, and it's very simple. Just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. And please remember, if you get a chance, check out our YouTube channel. You can find that at President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.