June 25th, 2025: Iran Announces Restart To Nuclear Program & Terror Suspects Arrested in U.S.
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It's Wednesday, the 25th of June. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed.

The ceasefire between Israel and Iran may have paused the bombs, but not Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Iran's top atomic official says the regime is already working to restore its damaged enrichment program. Oh, good. We'll have the details. Later in the show, a surprising diplomatic twist. Israel's top national security official says talks with the Syrian regime are already underway, suggesting, perhaps...

that Syria may be the next to join the Abraham Accords. Plus, President Trump is in the Netherlands for the NATO summit, where allies are sounding the alarm over China's massive military buildup. And in today's Back of the Brief, ICE just arrested 11 Iranian migrants across multiple states. At least one had ties to Hezbollah, and officials continue to sound the alarm about possible sleeper cells in the U.S. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.

While a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran has taken hold, major questions remain regarding the mullah's nuclear weapons program and the threat that the Islamic regime still poses to regional and global peace. Just hours after the truce took effect, bringing an end to what President Trump is calling the 12-day war, the

The chief of Iran's nuclear program declared that plans were already underway to restore their enrichment facilities, which had been damaged but apparently not destroyed by U.S. airstrikes over the weekend. He claimed that Iran was prepared for damage to its nuclear sites prior to the attacks and implied that steps had been taken to limit the impact on their equipment and uranium stores. That's according to our report from the Times of Israel.

Without further elaboration, the Iranian nuclear chief said, quote, the plan is to prevent interruptions in the process of production and services, end quote. Despite the reports, President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday that, quote, Iran's not going to have a nuclear weapon. I think it's the last thing on their mind right now. In a subsequent statement posted to Truth Social, Trump declared, quote, Iran will never rebuild their nuclear facilities, end quote.

But given the statements from Iran, it appears that President Trump still has his work cut out for him, at least diplomatically. So now that a ceasefire is in place, despite getting off to a shaky start, what could we expect now? The major question on everyone's mind is...

how the US administration plans to solidify the military achievements of the US and Israel and prevent Iran from restarting their nuclear program. Well, many expect the White House to revive negotiations with the mullahs in the days ahead, particularly given the unknown status of Iran's stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. Now, another unknown at this time is the actual extent of the damage to the targeted nuclear facilities.

Detailed, specific, credible battle damage assessments are still pending. Of course, it would put the US negotiating team at a significant disadvantage if they restart the talks with Iran without knowing the actual damage done to the key nuclear sites as well as the location of enriched uranium and perhaps centrifuges moved prior to the US strikes. And for that, well, I'm awarding myself the PDB statement of the obvious award for today.

Now, as our listeners know, President Trump declared that this past weekend strikes, quote, completely and totally obliterated Iran's nuclear sites. But early assessments from Israeli and U.S. intelligence, well, paint a more complicated picture. According to reports on Tuesday from The New York Times and CNN, which we should stress only cite anonymous sources, quote,

A preliminary classified report by the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that the core components of Iran's nuclear program likely survived the strikes and that the operation perhaps will only set back Iran's nuclear ambitions by less than six months.

The sources said that the strikes sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities, but did not collapse their underground buildings. The report also allegedly states that Iran moved some equipment and much of their stockpile of enriched uranium to secret nuclear sites before the airstrikes commenced. So, let me just repeat that. The report allegedly states that Iran moved some equipment and...

much of their stockpile of enriched uranium to "secret" nuclear sites before the airstrikes commenced. Now, perhaps one should ask here: does that mean that Iran has been maintaining secret nuclear sites all along? Huh. Which begs the question: if they've simply been pursuing a peaceful nuclear program all this time for civilian purposes,

Why do they have secret sites? You'd have to imagine that if they were secret, that probably means the UN nuclear watchdog hasn't been aware of them and hasn't been inspecting them. Still, the sources stressed that the five-page classified report from the DIA is just an initial assessment and that they're still gathering intelligence. It could take several days or even weeks for the US military to complete a formal battle damage assessment.

We should also note that the White House was quick to blast that report as, quote, White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said, quote, She added, quote,

End quote.

Or, well, maybe not. The report echoes concerns that we brought you on yesterday's PDB. As we discussed, two Israeli officials told the New York Times that they had intelligence suggesting Iran had moved equipment and uranium for the Fordow site in the days leading up to the strikes and that uranium stockpiles may have also been moved from the Isfahan facility late last week.

If the claims prove accurate, negotiations with the regime will take on a new urgency. It will come down to whether or not Iran still has the necessary equipment to turn their stores of 60% enriched uranium into operative weapons, given the damage that was done to their three main nuclear sites.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that intelligence indicated most of Iran's uranium stockpile was still being stored at the Isfahan facility when the U.S. carried out its strikes. But he also said that any surviving uranium stores will need to be pulled out of the ground by Iran and turned over to international partners so the material can be properly dealt with.

Separately, there are ongoing concerns over the state of Iran's ballistic missile program. While Israel did substantial damage to the regime's arsenal over their 12-day campaign, Iran's stockpiles are not fully depleted, and they will likely work quickly to restock. Coming up next, secret Israel-Syria back-channel communications could bring Damascus into the Abraham Accords.

and NATO leaders issued a warning over China's growing military strength and the possibility of an invasion of Taiwan. I'll be right back.

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Israel's top national security official confirmed this week that Jerusalem is engaged in direct daily political talks with the Syrian regime, talks that could lead to a seismic normalization agreement between two longtime adversaries. In a classified Sunday session with the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, National Security Advisor Zaki Hanegbi told lawmakers that he himself is leading negotiations with Syrian political officials,

not merely through military-backed channels. Hanegbi said that, quote, there is a direct dialogue at all levels, putting to rest weeks of speculation that Israel's contacts with Damascus were informal or intermittent.

His remarks are the clearest signal yet that the Netanyahu government is exploring a full diplomatic thaw with Syria and that Jerusalem sees a rare opening to extend the Abraham Accords even further Both Syria and Lebanon, Hanegbi said, are now being discussed as potential additions to the U.S.-brokered normalization framework

Timing, as always, is everything. The revelation comes on the heels of Israeli operations in Iran, operations that some in the government now view as strategic leverage to isolate Tehran and redraw regional alliances.

One member of Knesset urged the government to seize the moment, arguing that Israel should leverage its recent campaign to pursue peace with neighbors and to fracture Iran's axis. Hanegby agreed, adding, quote, "...Israel and Syria have many things in common, including with Iran."

That last comment raised more than a few eyebrows, especially since it contradicts claims made by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharah. Speaking to French President Emmanuel Macron in May, al-Sharah insisted that communication with Israel was minimal. Hanegbi now flatly contradicts that claim. He told lawmakers, quote, the truth is that there is a direct dialogue, suggesting far more activity occurring behind the scenes than either side has publicly admitted.

His confirmation this week builds on our coverage from May when sources that spoke exclusively with the Times of Israel revealed Israeli officials have been holding secret security-related talks with Syria's new Islamist-led government

As we discussed on the PDB, Republican Representative Martin Stutzman met privately with al-Sharah last month and said that the Syrian leader expressed a willingness to recognize Israel and explore joining the Abraham Accords, but not without strings. Stutzman recounted that al-Sharah demanded Israel halt airstrikes inside Syria and renegotiate the status of the Golan Heights.

Stutzman noted that while Al-Sharah didn't insist on the return of the Golan Heights, quote, they would have to come to some agreement. According to Hanegbi, those issues, including IDF deployments in Syrian buffer zones, are now on the table. If a deal is reached, Israel would be prepared to, quote, examine possible concessions.

Still, skepticism, of course, runs deep. Intelligence officials at Sunday's meeting reminded the committee that al-Sharah has not entirely abandoned his radical past. In 2014, he declared in a now infamous speech that his fighters would, quote, "take Damascus and then Jerusalem." Hanegbi downplayed the quote, saying the new president is "being shaped as things move forward," but acknowledged that Israeli officials are monitoring signs of ideological softening.

That shaping process is what has Israel's intelligence community on edge. Al-Sharaa's past ties to al-Qaeda during the Iraq insurgency haven't been forgotten and remain a key source of internal opposition to any sweeping deal. But if a normalization agreement is secured, it would, frankly, mark nothing short of a geopolitical earthquake. It would neutralize Iran's reach into Syria and offer Washington and its allies a powerful diplomatic counterweight in the region.

Okay, turning now to a warning from NATO's Secretary General that China's massive military buildup is approaching a breaking point, one that may set the stage for an invasion of Taiwan.

Speaking ahead of yesterday's NATO summit in The Hague, Secretary-General Mark Rutte made clear that the alliance's expanding partnerships in the Indo-Pacific are driven by deepening fears over Beijing's growing militarization. He stated, "...we have this close relationship with Japan and the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand, exactly for the reason that these countries are very, very worried about the massive military buildup in China."

The warning comes just weeks after our coverage of China staging large-scale military exercises around Taiwan, deploying warships and fighter jets in maneuvers widely seen as rehearsals for a blockade or an invasion. Taiwan responded by scrambling its own military assets as tensions across the Taiwan Strait reached a months-long high.

Now, as we've long discussed here on the PDB, Beijing views Taiwan not as a neighbor, but as a breakaway province, one that must be brought under Beijing's control by force if necessary. And while Taipei has strengthened ties with Washington in an effort to stave off such a move, it's becoming clear that deterrence may not be enough. Ruta also pointed to the alarming trend in China's defense sector as a signal of its long-term ambitions. To put the growth in perspective, he

He stated, quote, That surge in defense manufacturing, Ruta warned, gives Beijing more than just symbolic leverage. It gives Chinese President Xi Jinping capacity to sustain a prolonged conflict, but should he choose to act? And if that day comes, Ruta cautioned,

China may not act alone. According to Ruta, Xi may tap his, quote, junior partner, Putin, ah, remember him, to create a diversion on NATO's eastern flank, opening a second front in Europe, triggering a diversionary crisis on the alliance's doorstep.

Against that backdrop, member states have agreed to a sharp boost in defense spending, committing up to 5% of GDP as earlier demanded by President Trump. Ruta stressed the alliance must remain vigilant, saying NATO countries "must stand ready and cannot be naive" about the intentions of authoritarian regimes.

Though analysts have long argued that China prefers coercion and economic pressure over direct military conflict, Ruta now says a full-scale invasion of Taiwan is not just possible, it's increasingly likely. As Ruta made clear, the West is no longer wondering if conflict will come, it's preparing for when.

Coming up next in the back of the brief, ICE takes down 11 Iranian nationals over the weekend in the U.S., some with suspected terror ties. More on that when we come back.

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In today's Back of the Brief, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, or ICE agents, have arrested 11 Iranian nationals across eight U.S. states, including several with suspected ties to terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC. At least one of those individuals was on the U.S. terror watch list, and another admitted to serving as a sniper in the Iranian army just a few years ago.

According to a statement from DHS, the arrests were part of an aggressive effort to remove what they call the worst of the worst, including known or suspected terrorists who entered illegally or overstayed visas under previous immigration policies. Let's run through some of the individuals picked up, shall we? One man picked up in St. Paul, Minnesota, is a former member of Iran's IRGC who admitted to connections with Hezbollah.

Another was arrested in Mississippi, was flagged as a known or suspected terrorist, and had lied on his visa application. In Alabama, Ice arrested another man, a former Iranian army sniper, found carrying his Iranian military ID. He entered the U.S. on a K-1 fiancé visa under the Biden administration. It's very romantic. Other arrests included individuals with long criminal histories,

ranging from drug trafficking and firearm possession to domestic assault and fraud. One arrest even involved a US citizen who threatened to shoot ICE agents in the head for attempting to arrest the Iranian national that she was harboring. She and her associate, her associate, are now facing federal charges.

Now, these arrests aren't random pickups. According to a leaked DHS memo obtained by the New York Post, border agents were told to be on high alert for potential sleeper cells in the wake of recent U.S. airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. The concern is that individuals, of course, loyal to the Iranian regime, may attempt retaliatory attacks from within U.S. borders.

Under the Biden administration, more than 700 Iranian nationals who crossed illegally were reportedly released back into the country in the U.S. DHS officials say that the threat of sympathizers or operatives acting on Iran's behalf is the highest that it's ever been.

And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Wednesday, the 25th of June. Now, if you have any questions or comments, and I hope you do, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. And to listen to the show ad-free, you know you can do that. It's very simple. Just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com.

I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.