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started today at Vantor.com. It's Tuesday, the 20th of January. 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, beyond Iran's carefully managed show of unity, reporting suggests growing on ease inside the regime's leadership. Really? It's more like a moment of concern over self-preservation. We'll examine those concerns. Later in the show, chaos in Syria as ISIS fighters break free from a

prison during a turbulent government handover. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. While

Iran's leadership continues to project an image of unity and control, reporting suggests that

some within the ruling elite are increasingly uneasy with the regime's

harsh tactics and their long-term consequences. The Islamic Republic is now confronting one of its

most severe crises in its history, and according to reporting in the Economist, Iranian leaders

are increasingly at odds over how to respond to it. Nationwide protests, driven by

economic collapse and political repression and generational anger, have been met with extraordinary

violence, including mass arrests, lethal force, and sweeping information blackouts designed to

hide the violent crackdown. Yet that strategy comes at a cost, something that apparently

is not lost on Iran's power brokers, including high-ranking clerics, senior politicians,

...