PDB Situation Report | June 13th, 2026: An Iranian Insider Reveals What's Happening Behind The Scenes

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**Mike Baker** (1:43)
Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. The first up, while the world focuses on the escalating tensions between the US and Iran, conditions inside Iran continue to deteriorate. We'll get an inside look from our friend Alireza Jafarzadeh of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
Later in the show, it's been five months since the fall of Nicolás Maduro, you remember that. And the US and Venezuela are continuing to rebuild relations after years of hostility. We'll be joined by Rick de la Torre. He's a retired CIA operations officer and former station chief for Caracas. Great experience down there for more insight into that situation. But first, today's Situation Report spotlight.
Over the past week, headlines have focused on the escalating tit-for-tat, that's a military term, on the tit-for-tat strikes between the US and Iran, as well as the ongoing tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and the impact on global markets. While much of the world's attention has been fixed on the broader regional crisis, conditions inside Iran continue to deteriorate. Reports indicate the regime is intensifying its crackdown on dissidents and in political opponents, even as the country faces increasing economic hardships and growing public frustration. So, you ask yourself, what is the situation like inside Iran today? Well, we asked that question and we thought, who better to help us with insight than the friend of the show, Alireza Jafarzadeh, Deputy Director of the Washington Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Alireza, welcome back to the PDB Situation Report.

**Alireza Jafarzadeh** (3:27)
Thank you so much. Always a pleasure to be on your show.

**Mike Baker** (3:30)
I appreciate you saying that. Well, needless to say, this has been a very, very busy time for you and your organization. But I want to get your immediate impression to recent developments.
I'll keep it to just one section and then we can broaden out from there. But this, say if we take it in this chunk of time, the downing of the Apache attack helicopter, the strikes by the US, then the retaliatory strikes by Iran, and then further strikes, a second round of strikes, if you will, by the US. Then you have President Trump announcing that he's going to have a third round of strikes, we're going to hit them very hard, and then all of a sudden, he pulls back and he says, we're close to a deal. What are we supposed to make of all of this?

**Alireza Jafarzadeh** (4:21)
Well, like yourself, I just saw the tweet and or the announcement and a few things I can say. First of all, this is not the first time that the Iran regime is getting engaged in negotiations, back and forth promises and all of that. This regime has a track record of dealing with a whole host of international counterparts, particularly the United States, and dating back to the 1985, 86, the Iran-Contra affairs and all of that. So everyone has to be extremely careful exactly what the Iran regime is doing, what is it that they're promising, but most importantly, what is it that they're delivering.