Latest / The President's Daily Brief / PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 28th, 2026: Eight U.S. Marines Injured in Iranian Missile Attack & RAF Fairford Investigation Widens

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PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 28th, 2026: Eight U.S. Marines Injured in Iranian Missile Attack & RAF Fairford Investigation Widens · The President's Daily Brief

• 0:12
  It's Monday,
• 0:12
  the 28th of September.
• 0:14
  Welcome to the PDB
• 0:15
  afternoon bulletin.
• 0:16
  I'm Mike Baker.
• 0:17
  Your eyes and ears on the world stage.
• 0:20
  All right,
• 0:20
  let's get briefed.
• 0:21
  First up,
• 0:22
  new reporting reveals that 8 US Marines were injured
• 0:26
  when an Iranian anti-ship missile struck a US contracted vessel
• 0:30
  in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month.
• 0:33
  Now I'll have the details.
• 0:34
  Later in the show,
• 0:35
  new details in the suspected terror plot
• 0:38
  near RAF Fairford
• 0:40
  as investigators examine whether the men arrested
• 0:43
  were acting on behalf of a foreign state.
• 0:45
  Oh,
• 0:46
  and,
• 0:46
  uh,
• 0:46
  not to bury the lead,
• 0:48
  all 5 men are being released on bail.
• 0:50
  But first,
• 0:51
  today's afternoon spotlight.
• 0:53
  Nearly two weeks after an Iranian missile struck a
• 0:56
  US contracted vessel near the Strait of Hormuz,
• 0:59
  we're now learning that 8 American Marines were aboard that ship,
• 1:03
  and all 8 of them were injured,
• 1:05
  according to NBC News,
• 1:06
  citing 3 US officials.
• 1:08
  The Marines were operating as part of a
• 1:09
  battalion landing team when an Iranian anti-ship cruise missile
• 1:13
  hit their vessel on the 14th of September
• 1:16
  7 of the Marines were enlisted personnel.
• 1:18
  One was an officer.
• 1:20
  None of the injuries were described as life threatening.
• 1:23
  The Marines reportedly suffered smoke inhalation and concussion-like symptoms.
• 1:28
  All 8 have since reportedly returned to duty.
• 1:31
  Now
• 1:32
  we did know that Iran had hit a US contracted vessel
• 1:35
  2 days after the attack.
• 1:37
  Fox News reported that a ship operating around the Strait of Hormuz had been struck
• 1:41
  during an Iranian attack involving 4 drones and at least 1 missile.
• 1:46
  Sources said some US personnel were aboard
• 1:49
  and that there had been minor injuries including smoke inhalation.
• 1:53
  What we didn't know
• 1:54
  was who those American personnel were.
• 1:57
  We now know that they were Marines and
• 1:59
  apparently every Marine aboard the ship was hurt,
• 2:03
  but there are still some significant unanswered questions here.
• 2:06
  For one,
• 2:06
  we still don't know exactly what kind of vessel these Marines were operating from.
• 2:10
  NBC's sources say it was not a US Navy ship.
• 2:14
  Fox described it earlier as a US contracted missile,
• 2:17
  but neither CENTCOM nor the Pentagon has publicly identified the ship,
• 2:21
  explained its mission,
• 2:22
  or said why a Marine battalion landing team was aboard.
• 2:26
  We also don't know whether the Iranians knew that Marines
• 2:29
  were on that vessel when they launched the attack.
• 2:32
  There's also another piece of this story that surfaced before NBC's latest report
• 2:37
  last week.
• 2:37
  The Washington Post
• 2:38
  noticed that the Pentagon had quietly added another
• 2:41
  37 wounded service members to its public casualty database
• 2:45
  from the Iran conflict
• 2:47
  that included 29 sailors
• 2:49
  and 8 Marines.
• 2:50
  The Pentagon
• 2:51
  did not publicly explain how or when those troops had been injured,
• 2:55
  and CENTCOM declined to comment when the Post asked about the increase.
• 2:59
  Defense officials have said that there can be
• 3:01
  delays in adding casualties to the database,
• 3:04
  particularly when we're talking about concussions or traumatic brain injuries.
• 3:08
  Because the symptoms don't always appear immediately,
• 3:11
  so
• 3:11
  there's no evidence at this point that
• 3:13
  the Pentagon deliberately concealed those injuries.
• 3:16
  But it does mean that almost two weeks after this attack
• 3:19
  we're still learning basic details about an incident in which
• 3:22
  an Iranian missile struck a vessel carrying American troops.
• 3:26
  The Strait of Hormuz,
• 3:27
  of course,
• 3:27
  remains at the center of the confrontation between Washington and Tehran.
• 3:31
  Iran continues to use control of the strait as leverage.
• 3:35
  The US has,
• 3:36
  of course,
• 3:36
  tried to break that leverage.
• 3:38
  Meanwhile,
• 3:39
  American forces are still operating in and around those waters.
• 3:43
  The September 14th strike does raise questions that remain unanswered today.
• 3:47
  What exactly was that vessel doing?
• 3:49
  Why were Marines aboard?
• 3:51
  And perhaps
• 3:52
  more importantly,
• 3:53
  to what extent does the Iranian regime still maintain the ability
• 3:57
  to target US forces and commercial shipping operating in and around
• 4:01
  the Strait of Hormuz?
• 4:04
  All right.
• 4:04
  Coming up next,
• 4:05
  the RAF Fairford terror investigation that we reported on this morning continues,
• 4:10
  with police now examining
• 4:12
  whether the suspects may have been linked to Iran or another foreign government.
• 4:17
  And
• 4:17
  as the suspects are reportedly released on bail.
• 4:21
  I'll be right back.
• 4:22
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• 6:36
  Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin
• 6:39
  this morning.
• 6:39
  We told you about the 5 men arrested near RAF Fairford.
• 6:43
  That's the British air base
• 6:44
  being used by American bombers in operations against Iran.
• 6:48
  Well,
• 6:49
  we now have several updates.
• 6:51
  British counterterrorism police now say all 5 suspects
• 6:53
  are British nationals in their 20s from London.
• 6:56
  3 are from Westminster,
• 6:58
  1 from Camden,
• 6:59
  and another from Willston.
• 7:01
  They were initially detained on suspicion of explosives offenses
• 7:04
  and later arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act.
• 7:08
  And in a somewhat surprising move,
• 7:10
  all 5 have now been released on police bail.
• 7:14
  Now that may sound surprising,
• 7:15
  particularly if you heard what President Trump said about the case yesterday.
• 7:19
  In
• 7:20
  some brief comments,
• 7:21
  the president said the group intended to cause
• 7:23
  big damage
• 7:25
  and praised the response by British police as fantastic
• 7:28
  and amazing.
• 7:29
  Now I'm no Inspector Crusoe,
• 7:31
  but you would imagine
• 7:32
  that if the police had found damning evidence in
• 7:35
  the vans or otherwise held by the suspects,
• 7:38
  or if this
• 7:39
  had been a longer investigation and the
• 7:40
  subjects were otherwise known to the police,
• 7:43
  well,
• 7:43
  you'd think a quick bail release would not be in the cards.
• 7:47
  But to be fair,
• 7:48
  the fact that the suspects have been released on
• 7:50
  bail does not mean that they have been cleared.
• 7:52
  Counterterror officials say all five remain under investigation.
• 7:56
  And are subject to strict restrictions on their movements and contact with others.
• 8:01
  Investigators also say their work at the scene
• 8:03
  has opened up several new lines of inquiry,
• 8:06
  and one of those lines appears to be whether somebody outside Britain was involved.
• 8:11
  The head of British counterterrorism policing say
• 8:13
  investigators are considering whether the alleged activity may have
• 8:16
  been carried out by proxies or by individuals working
• 8:20
  quote knowingly or unknowingly
• 8:23
  on behalf of a foreign state.
• 8:25
  Reuters,
• 8:25
  citing a source familiar with the investigation,
• 8:28
  reports that an Iran-linked motive is
• 8:30
  currently considered the most likely possibility.
• 8:32
  Investigators are also examining at the same time
• 8:35
  whether this could have been
• 8:37
  a Russian sabotage act or an Islamist plot.
• 8:40
  Basically they're leaving all possibilities on the table
• 8:43
  while they work to gather information and evidence.
• 8:46
  Iran's embassy in London,
• 8:48
  no surprise,
• 8:49
  issued a categorical denial Monday
• 8:51
  calling suggestions of Iranian involvement unfounded and malicious.
• 8:56
  Well,
• 8:56
  if the Iranian government says so.
• 8:59
  Now British police are also stressing publicly that
• 9:01
  they have not yet determined a motive.
• 9:04
  As we noted this morning,
• 9:05
  RAF Fairford
• 9:06
  has been used by American bombers striking Iranian targets.
• 9:10
  Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps,
• 9:11
  the IRGC,
• 9:13
  warned back in July that bases used in
• 9:16
  attacks against Iran could themselves become legitimate targets.
• 9:20
  But there's another interesting question emerging here.
• 9:22
  How much did authorities know before those vans showed up near the base?
• 9:28
  Reuters is reporting that the arrests themselves were not intelligence-led.
• 9:31
  According to a source familiar with the investigation,
• 9:34
  security had already been increased around Fairford because
• 9:37
  of the broader threat environment.
• 9:39
  But Sunday's arrests came after a member of the public
• 9:42
  reported three suspicious vans apparently heading toward the base.
• 9:46
  Ah,
• 9:47
  see,
• 9:47
  the old see something,
• 9:48
  say something.
• 9:49
  It does work.
• 9:50
  Britain's Defense Secretary added to the uncertainty Monday though,
• 9:53
  saying the woman whose
• 9:55
  call brought the police to the scene
• 9:57
  had only a partial picture
• 9:59
  of what the authorities knew,
• 10:01
  so.
• 10:02
  Bottom line,
• 10:03
  there's still quite a bit that we don't know.
• 10:05
  We don't know whether Iran or any foreign government was involved.
• 10:09
  We don't know whether these men were acting on instructions from someone else,
• 10:12
  and police have not publicly detailed exactly
• 10:15
  what was found inside those three vans
• 10:17
  or how advanced any potential plot may have been.
• 10:20
  Now just a thought.
• 10:22
  But to minimize the inevitable public speculation and misinformation,
• 10:26
  it would be very good for the local authorities
• 10:29
  to release as much information as possible
• 10:31
  within the confines
• 10:33
  of conducting an active investigation.
• 10:36
  And that my friends,
• 10:37
  is the PDB
• 10:38
  afternoon bulletin for Monday,
• 10:39
  the 28th of September.
• 10:41
  If you have any questions or comments,
• 10:42
  please reach out to me at PDB@tv.com
• 10:46
  and to listen to the show ad-free.
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  I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back tomorrow.
• 10:57
  Until then,
• 10:59
  stay informed,
• 11:00
  stay safe,
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  stay cool.
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