It's Friday the third of July. 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. First up, violence is

surging in Iran's Kurdish northwest along the Iran-Iraq border, which raises the question,

are we witnessing the early stages of an insurgency against the regime? Later in the show,

a mystery is solved. After years of drones appearing in the skies over dozens of European countries,

a new report reveals Russia may have been quietly mapping NATO's air defense weaknesses.

Plus, yet another story of espionage and intrigue.

The Trump administration moves against an alleged Cuban influence operative,

who authorities say spent years working on behalf of

Havana inside the U.S. And in today's back of the brief, we head to Venezuela, where an extraordinary

rescue has given the country a rare moment of hope and grace following last week's deadly earthquakes.

But first, today's PDB spotlight.

Fighting is escalating in Iran's Kurdish northwest. Over the past several days, Kurdish militant

groups have launched a series of attacks on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC,

and other security forces, leaving multiple people dead on both sides.

The clashes have spread across several cities near Iran's border with Iraq,

prompting Tehran to respond with heavy artillery, drones, and additional military forces.

On its own, that would not necessarily be remarkable.

Iran has fought sporadic clashes with Kurdish militants for decades.

But this week's violence, according to local sources, feels different.

Instead of a single border skirmish, we're seeing attacks across multiple provinces,

multiple armed groups claiming responsibility, and a tempo of violence that raises a larger question,

...