U.S. Prepares Massive Expansion of Iran War & Russia Pounds Ukraine

**Mike Baker** (0:12)
It's Monday, the 20th of July. Welcome to The Presidents Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, two US troops are killed in a deadly Iranian missile strike on an American base in Jordan. Now, new evidence suggests that the Trump administration is preparing to dramatically expand military operations against the Iranian regime. I'll have the details. Later in the show, Moscow and Kiev continue trading blows with both sides unleashing deadly attacks over the weekend. Plus, if you happen to be in the market for an air defense system, maybe check in with Turkey. Ankara is reportedly preparing to part with its Russian-made air defense systems in a bid to convince Washington to sell it the F-35 fighter jet. And in today's Back of the Brief, New York City Mayor Mamdani, you remember him, never one not to play to his base, says he's still weighing whether to order the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu during his expected visit to the UN General Assembly in September. Anti-Zionists everywhere continue to slobber praise on the mayor, but I think they'll be disappointed with the end result. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
It was the moment many feared could pull the US even deeper into the war with Iran. Over the weekend, two American service members were killed, and another was reported missing after an Iranian missile barrage struck Muafiq Salty Air Base in Jordan. Several others were wounded, and the attack also damaged US military aircraft deployed at the base.
Those are the first American combat deaths since President Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran earlier this year. That of course was the ceasefire that never actually ceased the firing. It was a memorandum of understanding that only served to heighten the misunderstandings between the two nations.
The strike came just days after Iran formally withdrew from that June memorandum of misunderstanding. Of course, it was intended to reduce tensions in the region. That didn't work out well. Fighting has steadily intensified ever since, with US forces carrying out nightly strikes against Iranian military targets, while Tehran continues to launch retaliatory strikes and threaten American forces, Gulf states and commercial shipping. Now President Trump had repeatedly warned in the past that any attack killing American troops would fundamentally change the US response. Following the news of the fatalities, the US Secretary of Defense said, Their sacrifice will only stiffen our resolve. The question is, the resolve to do what? There have been over a week's worth of nighttime limited strikes on Iranian targets, while the White House continues to work the narrative that the US is still avoiding all-out conflict or a return to war. Feels like a return to war. Now there are growing signs that Washington's response could be far larger than another round of just retaliatory strikes. According to new reporting from Axios, the Trump administration has informed Israel that it's deploying dozens of additional US aerial refueling aircraft to the region. That's a move that military planners often view as a prerequisite for sustained long-range air operations. These are among the most important aircraft in any modern air campaign. Because of course, fighter jets can only remain over hostile territory for a limited amount of time before they have to return home for fuel. Tankers remove that limitation. They allow aircraft to fly farther, stay on station longer, carry heavier weapons loads, and launch repeated waves of strikes without constantly cycling back to distant airfields. In practical terms, they're what make a sustained strategic bombing campaign possible. That's why military analysts pay close attention whenever large numbers of tanker aircraft begin moving into a theater. They don't usually deploy in those numbers simply to support a handful of retaliatory missions. According to multiple reports, the Pentagon has now completed eight consecutive nights of strikes against targets across Iran. Initial attacks focused on degrading Tehran's ability to threaten shipping through the Strait of Hormuz by hitting coastal missile batteries, radar sites, drone launch positions, naval facilities and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps infrastructure. More recently, US aircraft have reportedly struck bridges and transportation links around Bandar Abbas in an apparent effort to disrupt the movement of Iranian military equipment and supplies into one of the country's most strategically important naval hubs.
At the same time, additional combat aircraft are flowing into the region. F-16 fighter squadrons have begun deploying from Europe, while F-35 stealth fighters are also being repositioned closer to the theater. And now comes the tanker fleet. Taken together, the deployments paint a picture that looks increasingly like the logistics required to sustain a much broader air campaign. According to Axios, President Trump is reviewing several military options that could significantly expand the scope of US operations. Those reportedly include additional strikes against Iran's nuclear infrastructure, attacks on hardened facilities like Big Ax Mountain, and even broader operations against elements of Iran's power grid and other critical infrastructure.