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The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 3rd, 2026: Israel Hits Council Choosing Iran’s Next Leader & Drones Hit U.S. Embassy
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It's Tuesday, the 3rd of March. 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 up, Israel targets the so called assembly of Experts. And that's the 88 member committee responsible for choosing Iran's next supreme leader in an effort to prolong Tehran's leadership vacuum. Later in the show, Iran expands its retaliatory strikes, launching drone strikes on the US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capital, of course. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. The Israeli air force has struck the building in the city of Qom housing Iran's assembly of Experts. That's the group of clerics responsible for appointing a new supreme leader. According to an Israeli defense official, the strike occurred while votes were being counted to select a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening wave of US Israeli strikes on Saturday. The assembly of Experts is an 88 member clerical body with the constitutional authority to appoint and theoretically dismiss Iran's supreme Leader. A smaller internal committee drafts a short list and then the full group votes. Israeli officials made their intent explicit, telling Axios, quote, we wanted to prevent them from picking a new supreme leader. Well, that's pretty straightforward now. Beyond what's unfolding on the land, air and sea as Operation Epic Fury continues, we're also getting a clearer picture of how this campaign came together and what the decision making process inside the White House looked like in the weeks leading up to the war. We've already discussed the force buildup that preceded this war. What's new is insight into how the final decision actually came together. According to detailed reporting from the New York Times, Based on the accounts of people with direct knowledge of the internal debates, diplomacy and war planning were unfolding simultaneously. While negotiations over Iran's nuclear program continued publicly, senior officials were debating not just whether to strike, but but how decisive that strike should be. In mid February, options were presented inside the Situation Room ranging from limited strikes designed to pressure Tehran to get back to the table in a meaningful way to a broader campaign aimed at crippling not just Iran's nuclear and missile infrastructure, but the regime's leadership itself. Military advisers reportedly warned that a larger campaign carried real risks. American casualties, regional escalation, and strain on U.S. munitions stockpiles. But the internal debate increasingly shifted away from incremental action. And in fact, few in the President's inner circle voiced opposition to military action. Even President J.D. vance, who's long been seen as cautious about Middle Eastern interventions reportedly argued that if the US Was going to act, it should, quote, go big and go fast. Once the conversation began moving in that direction, talk of smaller symbolic strikes appeared to lose momentum. At the same time, coordination with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu intensified. Meetings in December and again in February focused heavily on timing. Israeli leadership assessed that Iran's internal unrest and weakened command structure created a rare window of opportunity. And then came the intelligence. Central Intelligence Agency analysts had been closely tracking the movements of Ali Khamenei. They learned he would be at his residential compound in central Tehran on Saturday morning, with senior civilian and military officials gathered nearby. The strike timeline reportedly shifted multiple times to align with that window. Iranian officials were not anticipating a daylight attack. And when the opportunity presented itself, the decision was finalized. In an interview referenced in the reporting, the president described reaching a point during the negotiations where he concluded that Iran would not even consider the demand for zero enrichment and concluded that the ongoing talks were not going to produce the outcome he wanted. And that was reportedly the inflection point. On Saturday morning, while on board Air Force One, Trump gave the final order saying, operation Epic Fury is approved. No aborts. Good luck, end quote. That order was followed by the initial wave of strikes, which eliminated the Supreme Leader and reportedly the dozens of key senior figures. And today's strike in Kum suggests the campaign is now focused on preventing the regime from stabilizing itself through an orderly succession, essentially an effort to maintain that leadership vacuum for as long as possible. All right, coming up next, Iran's military launches a drone strike at the US Embassy in Riyadh, expanding its targets to include US Diplomatic facilities. More on that when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, you probably know me as the host of the President's Daily Brief. At least I hope you know them as the host of the pdb. But I'm also a business owner. And as a business owner, I'm always focused on finding and keeping clients. That's what you do when you have a business. And it's why I'm such a fan of Quo. That's Q U O Quo. Now, Quo is a terrific business that ensures you never miss a call or a message, because, as you may know, missed calls can be lost revenue. Quo helps you and your team share one business number, reply faster, and stay on top of every customer conversation so you never miss an opportunity to connect. And that's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo. Again, that's Q U O, the smarter way to run your business communications. Quo is the number one rated business phone system built for how modern teams work. 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Welcome back to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Iran has widened the scope of its retaliatory actions now targeting US Diplomatic facilities in the Gulf as Washington rushes to pull non essential personnel from the region. As we discussed on today's PDB and American personnel were already under emergency security restrictions as unrest in Pakistan and Iraq began building. That volatility created the immediate threat, but what we're seeing now is a shift from chaotic street violence at U.S. diplomatic compounds to direct military action by Tehran. Yesterday, two drones struck the U.S. embassy in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia's defense ministry described the incident as causing a, quote, limited fire. The US Mission urged Americans to avoid the area immediately, and the strike in Riyadh followed the closure of the US Embassy in Kuwait after a separate attack targeting that facility. So what you're seeing here is escalation against US Diplomatic outposts. It kicked off with riots from regime sympathizers in the streets of Pakistan and Iraq and has since moved to efforts by the Iranian regime to target embassies and consulates directly. The State Department ordered the evacuation of non emergency personnel and family members from Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the uae. Following the drone strikes, the US Mission to Saudi Arabia suspended operations instructing American civilians in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dharan to remain under security restrictions. In Kuwait, the American Embassy announced that it would remain closed until further notice and canceled all consular appointments and beyond official personnel. Washington has also urged private US Citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries. But with airspace closures and commercial flight disruptions spreading across the region, well, many Americans remain stranded. Several foreign governments have already begun organizing evacuation flights for their nationals. It's a sign of just how unstable the operating environment has become and that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Tuesday 3rd March. Now if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb@the firsttv.com and to listen to the show ad free. Well, you can do that and it is very simple. Just become a premium member of the President's Daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Foreign. Baker here to tell you about a great company that every food loving person should know about. It's called Gold Belly. Have you heard about them? Well, let me tell you, if you're a foodie, you're going to love Gold Belly. It's an amazing site that celebrates the best of the US by shipping the country's most iconic foods from legendary restaurants and chefs straight to your door. It could not be any simpler. Now, I've been a fan for quite a while. One of my many favorites is Franklin's Barbecue from Austin. Look, you're talking brisket ribs, the full Texas spread. Ordered it for a poker night at the Baker Compound one time and it showed up fast. Perfectly packed and every bit as tasty as if you were in Austin sitting at Franklin's. So whether you're craving Lou Malnati's deep dish Chicago pizza, Junior's cheesecake from New York, Joe's Stone Crab from Miami, or meals from chefs like Ina Garden or Jose Andres, Gold Belly delivers the real thing. If you're looking for that perfect gift, or maybe you just want to impress your friends and family with an epic meal the next time you host, go to goldbelly.com and you can get 20% off your first order with promo code PDB. Again, that's goldbelly.com code PDB for 20% off your first order.