Latest / The President's Daily Brief / PDB Afternoon Bulletin | August 31st, 2026: U.S. Launches New Strikes On Iran & Russia’s Jet-Powered Drone Offensive

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PDB Afternoon Bulletin | August 31st, 2026: U.S. Launches New Strikes On Iran & Russia’s Jet-Powered Drone Offensive · The President's Daily Brief

• 0:11
  It's Monday,
• 0:12
  the 31st of August.
• 0:14
  Well,
• 0:14
  congratulations for making it to the end of another month.
• 0:17
  Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin.
• 0:19
  I'm Mike Baker,
• 0:20
  your eyes and ears on the world stage.
• 0:22
  Alright,
• 0:23
  let's get briefed.
• 0:24
  First up,
• 0:25
  a month-long pause in fighting between the US and Iran
• 0:29
  is over,
• 0:30
  with American forces striking inside Iran,
• 0:32
  the Iranian regime firing missiles at US positions,
• 0:35
  and President Trump threatening another punishing response.
• 0:39
  Hm,
• 0:39
  I'll have the details.
• 0:41
  Later in the show,
• 0:42
  Russia unleashes nearly 1500 drones against Ukraine in the past 4 days,
• 0:47
  including hundreds of faster Iranian designed
• 0:50
  weapons that Kiev is struggling to intercept
• 0:53
  as Moscow prepares an even larger assault.
• 0:56
  But first,
• 0:57
  today's afternoon bulletin.
• 0:59
  The US and Iran are trading missiles and drones once again,
• 1:02
  ending a month-long pause in direct military action.
• 1:06
  The latest round began yesterday when American forces
• 1:08
  struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larik Island,
• 1:11
  which sits inside the Strait of Hormuz just off
• 1:14
  Iran's southern coast.
• 1:16
  US Central Command says personnel from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps,
• 1:19
  the IRGC,
• 1:21
  were observed preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the strait.
• 1:26
  US officials described the attack as a limited precise action
• 1:30
  against an imminent threat to commercial shipping.
• 1:33
  Washington says this was not the opening attack in a broader campaign.
• 1:36
  It was a preemptive strike.
• 1:38
  Intended to enforce a red line that President Trump established last week.
• 1:42
  As reported last week on the PDB,
• 1:44
  the US military claims it recently completed an operation
• 1:47
  to clear Iran's mines from the main international shipping lane
• 1:51
  through the Strait of Hormuz.
• 1:53
  Afterward,
• 1:54
  Trump warned the regime that any Iranian ship or boat
• 1:57
  attempting to place new mines would be immediately destroyed,
• 2:00
  calling it a zero tolerance policy.
• 2:03
  According to Centcom,
• 2:04
  the Iranian launchers on Lari Island were preparing
• 2:06
  to violate that policy and potentially undo weeks of
• 2:09
  dangerous American mine clearing work.
• 2:12
  Iran,
• 2:13
  as you might have guessed,
• 2:14
  is giving a very different account of what happened.
• 2:16
  Iranian media says American drones struck Iranian territory,
• 2:20
  killing 2 people and wounding several others.
• 2:23
  The IRGC
• 2:24
  called the attack an act of aggression
• 2:26
  and promised what it described as the punishment of the aggressor.
• 2:31
  The retaliation.
• 2:32
  Came within hours.
• 2:33
  Iran launched ballistic missiles toward two installations in Jordan,
• 2:36
  the King Hussein and Al-Azraq air bases,
• 2:40
  where American forces have reportedly been stationed.
• 2:43
  The RGC explicitly described the attack as retaliation
• 2:47
  for the American strike on Lari Island.
• 2:50
  Jordan says its air defenses intercepted 8 Iranian missiles
• 2:53
  that entered its airspace.
• 2:55
  American officials initially reported no significant damage and no casualties.
• 3:00
  President Trump later said all but one of the missiles were intercepted.
• 3:04
  According to the president,
• 3:05
  that remaining missile
• 3:06
  was deliberately allowed to continue because American defenses determined
• 3:10
  that it was not headed toward anything important.
• 3:12
  Some Jordanian security sources offered a
• 3:15
  slightly different account,
• 3:16
  telling ABC News that more than one missile may have penetrated the defenses,
• 3:20
  but they likewise reported no casualties.
• 3:23
  And Tehran didn't limit its response to Jordan.
• 3:26
  The UAE,
• 3:27
  the United Arab Emirates,
• 3:28
  says its air force intercepted an Iranian
• 3:30
  drone approaching over Emirati territorial waters.
• 3:34
  Iran claimed it targeted Al-Minhad Air Base near Dubai,
• 3:37
  which American forces have used in the past.
• 3:40
  The UAE denied that the base was attacked
• 3:43
  and reported no damage.
• 3:45
  Emirati officials condemned the drone incursion as a dangerous escalation
• 3:49
  and a direct threat to the country's sovereignty and security.
• 3:52
  So,
• 3:53
  at first glance,
• 3:54
  this looks like a relatively contained tit for tat exchange.
• 3:57
  That's a technical term,
• 3:58
  tit for tat.
• 3:59
  The United States destroyed two launchers.
• 4:01
  Iran responded by firing missiles
• 4:03
  and a drone at American positions and regional partners.
• 4:07
  Now,
• 4:07
  if both sides wanted an exit ramp,
• 4:09
  they could theoretically
• 4:10
  draw a line at that point under the incident.
• 4:13
  But President Trump is signaling that the exchange may not be over.
• 4:17
  Speaking to Fox News,
• 4:18
  Trump promised another American response,
• 4:20
  saying,
• 4:20
  quote,
• 4:21
  We're going to hit them hard,
• 4:22
  end quote.
• 4:23
  And that turns what might have been a completed tit for tat,
• 4:26
  there's that technical term again,
• 4:28
  into something more dangerous,
• 4:29
  a strike,
• 4:30
  a counterstrike,
• 4:31
  and
• 4:31
  now the threat of a counter counter strike,
• 4:34
  which is sort of like
• 4:36
  triple secret probation,
• 4:37
  I suppose.
• 4:38
  The escalation also comes at a revealing moment.
• 4:40
  Just days ago,
• 4:41
  the Trump administration said it was shifting away from major military operations
• 4:45
  and toward an economic campaign designed to isolate Iran,
• 4:49
  choke off its oil revenue,
• 4:50
  and force the regime back to the negotiating table.
• 4:53
  Treasury Secretary Scott Besant is currently asking G20 governments
• 4:57
  to help enforce that pressure
• 4:59
  by severing their remaining business connections with Iran.
• 5:03
  But the fundamental military dispute over the Strait of Hormuz
• 5:06
  never disappeared.
• 5:08
  The US says international shipping has the right
• 5:10
  to move through the Strait without Iranian interference.
• 5:13
  Iran
• 5:14
  continues treating control of the waterway as
• 5:16
  its strongest source of leverage against Washington
• 5:19
  and the wider international community.
• 5:22
  And despite Trump's declaration that the strait is open,
• 5:24
  actual commercial traffic
• 5:26
  remains far below normal levels.
• 5:29
  Both governments may believe they're engaging in controlled escalation,
• 5:33
  responding forcefully enough to maintain deterrence
• 5:36
  without returning to full scale war.
• 5:39
  But every supposedly limited response creates justification
• 5:43
  for the next one,
• 5:44
  and the economic consequences of this one are already becoming visible.
• 5:48
  Brent crude climbed back above $90 per barrel
• 5:52
  as traders reacted to the renewed fighting around
• 5:54
  the world's most important energy choke point.
• 5:57
  Iranian President Massoud Pokian,
• 5:59
  well,
• 5:59
  he continues insisting that the regime wants a negotiated
• 6:02
  solution and does not seek a prolonged war.
• 6:05
  But he also says Iran will respond decisively to aggression.
• 6:08
  And of course,
• 6:09
  Posseskin
• 6:10
  may not actually speak for whomever is leading the regime at this point.
• 6:15
  Alright.
• 6:16
  Coming up next,
• 6:17
  Russia hits Ukraine for a 5th consecutive day with waves of jet-powered drones,
• 6:22
  killing dozens and raising fears that Moscow is
• 6:25
  preparing its most punishing winter campaign yet.
• 6:28
  I'll be right back.
• 6:29
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• 6:30
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• 6:33
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• 6:34
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• 6:35
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• 8:43
  Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin.
• 8:46
  It's been a punishing several days in Ukraine,
• 8:48
  where a Russian drone barrage that began last week
• 8:51
  has now stretched into its 5th day,
• 8:53
  killing dozens and repeatedly bringing daily life in and around Kiev to a halt.
• 8:58
  One of the deadliest moments came Friday when a Russian drone struck an ammunition.
• 9:02
  depot near Kiev,
• 9:04
  setting off a chain of massive explosions
• 9:06
  that continued long after the initial attack.
• 9:09
  By Sunday,
• 9:09
  the death toll from that incident had climbed to 38,
• 9:13
  making it Russia's deadliest attack on Ukraine so far this year,
• 9:16
  according to President Zelensky.
• 9:19
  Another 20 people were injured.
• 9:20
  4 remained missing,
• 9:21
  and even as those numbers were climbing,
• 9:23
  emergency crews were still trying to bring the site under control.
• 9:28
  Firefighters spent Sunday battling fires and explosions that
• 9:30
  were still burning at the ammunition depot,
• 9:33
  while bomb disposal teams worked their way through the area,
• 9:36
  clearing unexploded ordnance.
• 9:39
  This was the 2nd time in just 2 months that a munitions depot near Kiev had been hit,
• 9:43
  and prosecutors have now opened a criminal investigation.
• 9:46
  Into why so much ammunition was being stored
• 9:49
  this close to residential neighborhoods.
• 9:52
  And while crews were still dealing with all of that,
• 9:54
  Russia's attacks kept coming.
• 9:56
  Drone waves continued through the weekend and into today,
• 9:59
  with Russia once again targeting Kiev
• 10:01
  and the surrounding districts.
• 10:02
  4 more people were injured in the latest attacks,
• 10:05
  while warehouses and apartment building,
• 10:07
  and retail stores were damaged.
• 10:09
  Now to give you an idea of just how relentless these attacks have become,
• 10:13
  Zelensky says Russia launched nearly 1500 drones at Ukraine in just the past 4 days.
• 10:19
  Roughly 800 of them
• 10:21
  were the jet-powered Iranian Shahd variants.
• 10:24
  Unlike the slower propeller-driven Shahds that Russia's
• 10:27
  relied on throughout much of the war,
• 10:29
  these jet-powered versions are significantly faster,
• 10:32
  and Zelensky says shooting them down has become
• 10:34
  Ukraine's most difficult task.
• 10:37
  But Russia isn't simply changing the drones it's sending toward Kiev,
• 10:40
  it's changing when it's sending them.
• 10:43
  Large drone waves that were once concentrated overnight
• 10:46
  are increasingly coming during the day,
• 10:48
  meaning the disruption doesn't necessarily end
• 10:51
  when Ukrainians wake up in the morning.
• 10:53
  Air raid sirens can sound for hours,
• 10:55
  and Zelensky argues that's deliberate.
• 10:57
  Quote,
• 10:57
  Russia's current tactic is to wear down Ukraine,
• 11:00
  and above all,
• 11:01
  to wear down Ukrainians,
• 11:03
  end quote.
• 11:04
  And the missile barrage isn't only happening around Kiev.
• 11:06
  In the southern Odessa region,
• 11:08
  a Russian strike sparked a fire at a terminal
• 11:11
  operated by one of Ukraine's largest private delivery companies.
• 11:14
  And all of this is putting more pressure on
• 11:16
  a problem that we've talked about quite a bit.
• 11:18
  Ukraine is running dangerously low on air defense interceptors
• 11:22
  it needs against Russia's aggressive missile and drone campaign.
• 11:26
  And Moscow is already warning that an even larger campaign could be coming.
• 11:31
  Russia's Defense Ministry
• 11:32
  says its forces are preparing what it
• 11:34
  calls quote massive strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure
• 11:39
  in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian companies
• 11:41
  and the country's oil and gas sector.
• 11:44
  If that all sounds familiar,
• 11:45
  well,
• 11:46
  it should.
• 11:46
  We've watched Putin repeatedly hammer Ukraine's power grid
• 11:50
  during previous winters,
• 11:51
  leaving Ukrainians without electricity and heat
• 11:54
  as the temperatures fall.
• 11:56
  Now,
• 11:56
  Ukrainian officials are warning that the coming winter
• 11:59
  could be the most difficult that they've faced
• 12:01
  since Putin launched his full scale invasion
• 12:03
  over 4 years ago.
• 12:05
  And that my friends,
• 12:06
  is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Monday,
• 12:09
  the 31st of August.
• 12:10
  If you have any questions or comments,
• 12:11
  please reach out to me at PDB@hefirsttv.com.
• 12:15
  And of course to listen to the show ad-free,
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• 12:22
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• 12:24
  I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back tomorrow.
• 12:26
  Until then,
• 12:27
  stay informed,
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