Latest / The President's Daily Brief / PDB Afternoon Bulletin | November 3rd, 2026: U.S. Strikes Iran After Missile Attack & Intelligence-Sharing Breakdown

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PDB Afternoon Bulletin | November 3rd, 2026: U.S. Strikes Iran After Missile Attack & Intelligence-Sharing Breakdown · The President's Daily Brief

• 0:12
  It's Tuesday,
• 0:12
  the 3rd of November.
• 0:14
  Look at that.
• 0:15
  We are smack dab in the middle of the US midterm elections.
• 0:19
  Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin.
• 0:21
  I'm Mike Baker,
• 0:22
  your eyes and ears on the world stage.
• 0:24
  All right,
• 0:25
  let's get briefed.
• 0:27
  First up,
• 0:27
  American fighter jets come under Iranian missile fire,
• 0:31
  triggering fresh US strikes on Iranian targets.
• 0:35
  I'll have the details.
• 0:36
  Later in the show,
• 0:37
  a growing turf war.
• 0:38
  Well,
• 0:38
  that's never good inside America's intelligence community.
• 0:42
  Reportedly disrupts critical intelligence sharing,
• 0:45
  raising concerns
• 0:46
  about what Washington knows
• 0:48
  as tensions with Iran are escalating.
• 0:50
  But first,
• 0:51
  today's afternoon spotlight.
• 0:53
  American forces have struck Iran once again,
• 0:55
  hitting Iranian positions on Keshem Island.
• 0:58
  Now,
• 0:58
  according to US officials,
• 1:00
  Monday's attack was not an isolated incident.
• 1:02
  It was the latest in a series of limited American strikes against Iranian targets
• 1:07
  over the past several weeks,
• 1:09
  operations
• 1:10
  that the Pentagon has not publicly disclosed.
• 1:13
  The Wall Street Journal first reported the attack,
• 1:15
  with American officials subsequently confirming
• 1:18
  details to several news organizations.
• 1:21
  They described the strikes as defensive,
• 1:23
  oh,
• 1:24
  not the start of another full-scale bombing campaign.
• 1:27
  But the disclosure makes one thing clear.
• 1:29
  Even as Washington and Tehran posture about how to end the war,
• 1:33
  the two sides are still exchanging fire.
• 1:36
  Here's what reportedly happened
• 1:38
  on Monday.
• 1:39
  An American fighter jet operating near the Strait of Hormuz
• 1:42
  came under attack from an Iranian surface to air missile.
• 1:45
  According to the journal,
• 1:46
  the missile was fired by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,
• 1:49
  the IRGC.
• 1:51
  The American aircraft returned fire,
• 1:53
  striking the Iranian missile position.
• 1:55
  In a separate encounter,
• 1:57
  US forces reportedly intercepted an Iranian missile launched from Keshem
• 2:02
  toward commercial shipping.
• 2:04
  Other American officials told NBC News that Iranian forces
• 2:07
  have repeatedly fired on US aircraft in recent weeks,
• 2:11
  and that American troops have occasionally struck missile launchers in response.
• 2:16
  Iranian state media reported 5 explosions on Keshi Island.
• 2:20
  But we do not yet have a verified account
• 2:23
  of the damage or any confirmed casualty figures,
• 2:26
  and US Central Command CENTCOM
• 2:28
  has not released a detailed public account of Monday's operation.
• 2:33
  Now we've talked about Kesim Island before here on the PDB.
• 2:36
  It's a strategically important piece of Iranian territory.
• 2:40
  It sits near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz,
• 2:42
  close to the Iranian naval hub at Bandar Abbas.
• 2:45
  The island hosts military facilities including a
• 2:48
  naval base and an underground missile site.
• 2:51
  From positions in and around Keshem,
• 2:53
  Iranian forces can and do threaten American aircraft and commercial shipping.
• 2:59
  The Washington Post reports that a tanker
• 3:00
  near Oman's Musendam Peninsula was struck Friday
• 3:04
  by an unidentified projectile or mine and caught fire.
• 3:08
  25 crew members were evacuated by the Omani Navy.
• 3:11
  Now American officials say US forces are still
• 3:14
  intercepting Iranian drones and missiles aimed at shipping.
• 3:17
  So despite months of American military operations against Iran,
• 3:21
  the Revolutionary Guard retained the ability to threaten
• 3:24
  and attack US forces and commercial vessels.
• 3:28
  Monday's strikes belong to a broader series
• 3:30
  of American attacks that have gone unannounced.
• 3:34
  Earlier in the war,
• 3:35
  the Pentagon routinely publicized its strikes.
• 3:37
  In recent weeks,
• 3:38
  officials say
• 3:40
  that has changed.
• 3:41
  One official told the Journal
• 3:42
  that the administration has deliberately avoided announcing these limited.
• 3:46
  Operations,
• 3:47
  because it does not want to signal a return to major combat.
• 3:50
  Nothing to see here.
• 3:52
  All's well.
• 3:53
  A limited response to an Iranian missile launch,
• 3:55
  of course,
• 3:55
  is not the same thing
• 3:56
  as ordering a sustained bombing campaign,
• 3:59
  but it does create a striking contrast
• 4:02
  with President Trump's public messaging.
• 4:05
  On Monday,
• 4:05
  President Trump told reporters,
• 4:07
  quote,
• 4:07
  We had a war with Iran,
• 4:09
  we won,
• 4:10
  end quote.
• 4:11
  He went further,
• 4:12
  saying,
• 4:12
  quote,
• 4:12
  we haven't been doing any fighting
• 4:14
  for months,
• 4:15
  end quote.
• 4:16
  Hm.
• 4:17
  Yet that same day,
• 4:18
  American forces were striking Iranian missile positions,
• 4:21
  and officials now acknowledge,
• 4:23
  well,
• 4:23
  there have been other strikes in recent weeks.
• 4:26
  Trump was also asked whether he was
• 4:27
  considering renewed attacks after today's midterm elections.
• 4:31
  His answer was no.
• 4:32
  Later,
• 4:33
  in an interview with Axios,
• 4:34
  he said he was quote,
• 4:36
  in no rush,
• 4:37
  end quote,
• 4:37
  to decide whether to resume major fighting.
• 4:41
  His administration,
• 4:41
  however,
• 4:42
  continues to weigh several options.
• 4:44
  Axios reports that Vice President JD Vance and envoy Steve Witkoff
• 4:48
  are pushing for a negotiated settlement.
• 4:51
  Defense Secretary Pete Exeth and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu
• 4:54
  reportedly favor renewed military action,
• 4:57
  according to the outlet.
• 4:58
  Other senior officials
• 5:00
  favor maintaining economic pressure
• 5:02
  rather than launching another major bombing campaign
• 5:05
  or rushing into a deal
• 5:07
  with the existing Islamic Republic leadership.
• 5:10
  Meanwhile,
• 5:11
  Qatari mediators have drafted a 3 day sequence of confidence building measures
• 5:15
  intended to restart direct US-Iran negotiations.
• 5:19
  There is no hope like the hope of a mediator,
• 5:21
  is there?
• 5:22
  Vance said Monday that he and Trump feel optimistic
• 5:25
  about reaching a settlement.
• 5:27
  Well,
• 5:27
  to be fair,
• 5:28
  they have felt optimistic on numerous occasions
• 5:30
  over the past 8 months.
• 5:32
  Tehran,
• 5:33
  however,
• 5:33
  is offering a different assessment.
• 5:35
  On Tuesday,
• 5:36
  a senior Iranian official told Reuters the two sides remain far apart,
• 5:40
  and Iran will not accept what it calls Washington's excessive demands.
• 5:44
  Iran says it could reopen the strait
• 5:47
  and consider
• 5:48
  nuclear negotiations quickly if the US agrees to meet Iranian demands,
• 5:53
  including relief from the blockade and relief from sanctions.
• 5:57
  So,
• 5:57
  you ask,
• 5:58
  where does this leave us?
• 5:59
  I mean,
• 6:00
  besides in a state of confusion.
• 6:02
  The US is trying to keep military and economic pressure on Tehran
• 6:06
  while giving diplomacy room to work.
• 6:08
  Iran is continuing to challenge American operations
• 6:11
  and threaten shipping,
• 6:13
  and both sides appear to be calculating
• 6:15
  that limited military confrontations
• 6:18
  can remain limited.
• 6:20
  Now that may be the intention,
• 6:21
  but it's obviously not a guarantee.
• 6:23
  According to American officials,
• 6:25
  Monday's strikes were not the beginning of a major new offensive,
• 6:28
  but they did expose just how much fighting has continued without public awareness.
• 6:33
  And while the White House has been trying to portray this conflict as already won,
• 6:38
  limited military engagements have been ongoing.
• 6:41
  All right.
• 6:42
  Later in the show,
• 6:43
  America's spy agencies are reportedly at
• 6:45
  odds with internal rivalries disrupting intelligence sharing
• 6:49
  and forcing the White House to intervene.
• 6:52
  I'll be right back.
• 6:53
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• 6:54
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  A new investigation is revealing
• 9:38
  potential divisions inside America's intelligence community
• 9:42
  with disputes between some of the country's most critical spy agencies
• 9:45
  disrupting the flow of intelligence on Iran and other national security threats.
• 9:50
  According to Reuters,
• 9:51
  long-standing rivalries between the CIA and the
• 9:54
  Office of the Director of National Intelligence
• 9:56
  have escalated into a bureaucratic
• 9:58
  battle that's interfered with intelligence assessments
• 10:01
  and in some cases temporarily cut off information to Congress.
• 10:06
  Reuters spoke with 8 current and former
• 10:08
  officials and people familiar with the situation.
• 10:11
  It's not known what their intentions or
• 10:12
  motivations were for speaking with Reuters.
• 10:15
  So their comments don't have context in that regard,
• 10:19
  but they describe a breakdown in cooperation
• 10:22
  that began during Tulsi Gabbard's tenure as Director of National Intelligence,
• 10:26
  noting that the effects have continued even after
• 10:29
  her departure back in June of this year.
• 10:32
  At the center of the dispute is the National Intelligence Council,
• 10:35
  that would be the NIC because of course there's an acronym
• 10:37
  which operates under the Director of National Intelligence,
• 10:40
  which would be the DNI.
• 10:41
  The council is responsible for pulling together
• 10:43
  assessments from America's 18 intelligence agencies,
• 10:47
  giving policymakers a comprehensive picture of threats facing the country.
• 10:51
  That's the idea.
• 10:52
  But according to Reuters,
• 10:53
  the CIA stopped co-authoring some of those assessments last year,
• 10:57
  choosing instead
• 10:58
  to focus on producing their own intelligence reports.
• 11:02
  The consequences have reportedly been significant.
• 11:04
  Officials say the council's production has declined,
• 11:07
  and 5 current and former officials
• 11:09
  told Reuters that it's produced no assessments specifically
• 11:13
  focused on the ongoing war with Iran.
• 11:15
  Well,
• 11:15
  that would seem to be a hot topic,
• 11:16
  wouldn't it?
• 11:17
  That's a particularly striking revelation given
• 11:20
  the military confrontations that we just discussed
• 11:22
  and the decisions that Washington continues to face
• 11:25
  over whether to escalate
• 11:26
  or attempt to negotiate.
• 11:28
  The problems extend beyond the CIA.
• 11:31
  Reuters also uncovered previously unreported interruptions
• 11:34
  in intelligence sharing with Congress.
• 11:37
  Lawmakers and their staffs temporarily stopped receiving intelligence reports,
• 11:41
  reportedly
• 11:42
  following American operations against Iran in June of last year,
• 11:46
  and again.
• 11:46
  Following the capture of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela
• 11:50
  just this past January,
• 11:51
  Gabbard's office had accused lawmakers of
• 11:53
  leaking classified information to the press.
• 11:56
  Now the tensions reportedly grew so severe
• 11:59
  that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles
• 12:01
  had to intervene several times to calm the situation.
• 12:05
  Officials described the confrontation between the CIA
• 12:08
  and the Director of National Intelligence's Office
• 12:11
  as one of the most significant turf wars between the agencies in many years.
• 12:16
  And there were problems elsewhere.
• 12:17
  Reuters reports that the FBI temporarily withheld certain intelligence
• 12:21
  from the National Counterterrorism Center late last year following a dispute
• 12:26
  over the center's attempt to investigate the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
• 12:30
  FBI officials reportedly believed that the center was exceeding its authority.
• 12:35
  Now the intelligence agencies dispute aspects of this reporting.
• 12:39
  The CIA says it continues to participate fully
• 12:42
  in preparing intelligence assessments for the president and working with the NIC,
• 12:46
  the National Intelligence Council.
• 12:48
  The director of National Intelligence's office also disputes
• 12:51
  claims of a significant decline in assessments,
• 12:54
  saying production remains close to historical levels.
• 12:57
  Since replacing Gabbard in August,
• 13:00
  Director of National Intelligence DNIJ Clayton
• 13:03
  has restored congressional briefings on election threats.
• 13:05
  Well,
• 13:05
  that's good,
• 13:06
  and officials say tensions between the agencies have eased.
• 13:09
  Still,
• 13:10
  some former intelligence officials are concerned
• 13:13
  about the longer term consequences.
• 13:15
  They warn that analysts have
• 13:16
  become reluctant to challenge administration positions
• 13:19
  and that institutional rivalries
• 13:22
  could prevent policymakers from receiving the complete intelligence picture.
• 13:27
  There's a historical concern here as well.
• 13:29
  One of the major lessons of September 11th was the danger
• 13:32
  of intelligence agencies failing to share information.
• 13:36
  The Office of the Director of National Intelligence
• 13:38
  was created in part to address that problem.
• 13:42
  Look
• 13:42
  again,
• 13:43
  the overarching lesson from 9/11 was
• 13:45
  that these various agencies and organizations
• 13:48
  for the sake of national security,
• 13:50
  need to play well together.
• 13:53
  That shouldn't be difficult for grown-ups to understand.
• 13:56
  Now Reuters has not established that the
• 13:58
  president is being denied essential intelligence,
• 14:01
  but the investigation
• 14:03
  raises questions about whether the mechanisms
• 14:05
  designed to coordinate America's intelligence agencies
• 14:08
  are functioning as intended.
• 14:10
  And that my friends is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Tuesday,
• 14:14
  the 3rd of November.
• 14:15
  Now if you have any questions or comments,
• 14:16
  please reach out to me at PDB@hefirsttv.com
• 14:21
  and to listen to the show ad-free,
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  it's very simple to do.
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  Just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief
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  by visiting PDBpremium.com.
• 14:29
  I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back tomorrow.
• 14:31
  Until then,
• 14:33
  stay informed,
• 14:34
  stay safe,
• 14:35
  stay cool.
• 14:50
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