The President's Daily Brief
January 10th, 2025: Iranian General Accuses Russia of Betrayal & Maduro’s Protest Problem
Fri, 10 Jan 2025
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: A top Iranian General accuses Russia of betrayal, alleging their jets bombed empty deserts while claiming strikes on Syrian rebels. The U.S. Military launches its first strikes of the year against Houthi targets in Yemen, focusing on an underground weapons storage facility. In Venezuela, opposition leaders rally for mass protests as Nicolás Maduro prepares for his third-term inauguration. And in today’s Back of the Brief: Mexico’s President pushes back against President Trump’s proposal to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What accusation did the Iranian General make against Russia?
It's Friday, 10 January. 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. Today, we start in the Middle East with a bold accusation from a top Iranian general. Now, he claims that Russia turned on its allies in Syria's final days, faking airstrikes by bombing empty deserts while bragging about targeting rebels.
Later in the show, the U.S. military launches its first strikes against the Houthis of the new year, targeting an underground weapons storage facility in Yemen. Plus, the latest from Venezuela, where opposition leaders are calling for mass protests ahead of President Maduro's inauguration for a third term.
And in today's back of the brief, the president of Mexico is pushing back against President Trump after he proposed changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
We'll begin with an update on Syria, as a top Iranian general issues a rare rebuke of their Russian allies, putting partial blame on the Putin regime for the sudden downfall of their ally Assad last month at the hands of Islamist rebels.
Brigadier General Behrouz Esbadi, Iran's senior ranking general in Syria before Assad's overthrow, made the remarks during a surprisingly candid speech last week at a mosque in Tehran. He accused the Kremlin of directly lying to leaders in Tehran as the HTS-led offensive got underway back in late November, according to an exclusive report from the New York Times.
Now, the Kremlin apparently told Iranian officials that Russian jets were conducting a bombing campaign to blunt the advances of the rebels, including strikes on HTS's headquarters. But it turned out the Russians were just putting on an elaborate show for their supposed allies in both Iran and Syria. I mean, seriously, if you can't trust Putin and his minions, well, what's the world coming to?
In reality, his body said that Russia was simply bombing the empty desert to make it look like they were standing in Assad's corner. But his body implied that Russia's treachery was, frankly, hardly a surprise.
He further accused Russia of turning off critical radars inside Syria throughout 2024 when Israel launched airstrikes targeting Iranian military officials and militant infrastructure stationed in the country. By standing down the radars, he said Russia had enabled Israel's forces to attack much more effectively.
The remarks, come as a former senior aide to Assad, said Monday that the Kremlin had stalled critical military assistance during the rebel uprising. The official said Assad had personally asked Vladimir Putin to approve airlifting military aid to Syria, and that was a request Putin reportedly agreed to.
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Chapter 2: What military actions did the U.S. take in Yemen?
Maduro's stranglehold on Venezuela was further on full display Tuesday during a televised address where he announced the capture of two Americans, labeling them as, quote, very high level and, quote, mercenaries in an alleged plot against his regime. The socialist dictator provided no evidence, shocking, to substantiate his allegations.
Maduro stated, quote, Just today, we've captured seven foreign mercenaries, including two important ones from the United States. naming Colombians and Ukrainians among the group. The U.S. State Department swiftly dismissed these accusations as baseless, citing Venezuela's history of detaining Americans without cause.
A spokesperson from the State Department reiterated Washington's support for a democratic resolution to the country's crisis, calling Maduro's claims of U.S. involvement to overthrow Venezuela as, quote, categorically false. The identities of the detained Americans remain undisclosed.
Opposition candidate González, recognized by the Biden administration as Venezuela's legitimate president-elect, was in Washington meeting with U.S. officials when Maduro announced the arrests. President Biden doubled down on Washington's stance, reiterating that González was the rightful winner of the July election and condemning Maduro's grip on power.
OK, coming up in today's back of the brief, a war of words as Mexico's president fires back at President Trump over his surprising proposal to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. More on that when we come back.
In today's Back of the Brief, Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum delivered a theatrical rebuttal on Wednesday when she mockingly proposed renaming North America America Mexicana, a sarcastic response to President-elect Trump's suggestion to rebrand the Gulf of Mexico as, quote, the Gulf of America.
Standing before a 1607 map during a press conference, looking like a smug history teacher, Scheinbaum gestured toward the swath of land encompassing present-day Mexico, the U.S., and parts of Canada. She asked, quote, Why don't we call it America Mexicana? It sounds pretty. Isn't that true? End quote.
Her words were not just a satirical cab at the president-elect, but also a historical reference made earlier in the press conference by a former cultural secretary who explained that, quote, Scheinbaum added that the name also appeared in the Constitution drafted during Mexico's independence movement against Spain in 1814.
While the reference predates Mexico's modern Constitution by more than a century, she used it to underscore the historical ties of the term to the region. Trump's Tuesday announcement of the Gulf of America drew both support and backlash, with the president-elect justifying the name change by citing the U.S. 's economic and industrial footprint along the Gulf.
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