August 27th, 2026: Iran’s New Hormuz Plan Targets American Warships & Russia’s Chinese-Powered Shaheds

I break down the new wars and weapons systems that are totally reshaping our world in my show Kappy Army, but we go beyond simply just telling you what happened in a war, we actually investigate deeper into the why and how. At Kappy Army, everything is informed by my experience as an average US Army infantryman in Iraq, and a war correspondent covering the front lines of the war in Ukraine. Just search Kappy Army on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to get weekly open source intelligence reports and remember to follow today. It's Thursday, the 27th of August, welcome to the president's daily brief. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears are on the world stage. Alright, let's get briefed. Next up, Iran says a proposed agreement with Oman would divide control and revenue from the state of Hormuz and bar American warships from passing through. How about that? Later in the show, Chinese technology is transforming Russia's Iranian design shahed drones, turning a cheap battlefield weapon into something increasingly similar to a low-cost cruise missile. Plus, Washington disrupts a sprawling Chinese cyber espionage operation that allegedly targeted American government agencies. And in today's back of the brief, the Switzerland considers a stricter form of neutrality is there such a thing that could pull the country away from NATO and weaken western sanctions against Russia. Switzerland won't just be neutral anymore, they'll be super neutral, they'll be skippity neutral. As the kids would say, and maybe they don't say that anymore. It's hard to keep up with those happy kids. Anyway, here's today's PDB spotlight. Iran is trying to turn its wartime control of the straight of Hormuz into something more permanent, authority over which ships can pass through, which routes they use and potentially how much they pay. And Tehran says that authority would be used to keep American warships out. It does not sound like they wanted to negotiate. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gadababadi says Iran and Oman have reached an understanding on a new framework for managing traffic through the strait of Hormuz. Under the proposed arrangement, commercial ships entering the Persian Gulf would travel entirely through Iranian waters. Outbound traffic would pass partly through Iranian waters and partly through Oman's. But the most consequential provision concerns military vessels. Gadababadi said that Natojitsvon, "Gadababadi said that if the understanding becomes binding, no military ship would be permitted to transit the strait." In his words, quote, "no military vessel at all." That would effectively allow Iran to challenge American naval access to the Persian Gulf where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is headquartered in Bahrain. American destroyers, aircraft carriers and other military vessels regularly pass through the strait of Hormuz to reach U.S. partners, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE. Washington would almost certainly, before you think, reject any Iranian attempt to determine whether those warships may enter or leave the Gulf. The announcement followed talks Tuesday between the foreign ministers of Iran and Oman. The two governments issued a joint statement outlining a proposed temporary shipping corridor and a joint project to clear minds from the strait. Technical negotiations would then continue toward a permanent corridor, along with new arrangements for traffic management, information sharing, security services and the waterways future administration. Now, that mind-clearing proposal is particularly interesting because, as we reported here on the PDB yesterday, the U.S. says its military has already cleared the principal shipping lanes through the strait of Hormuz. President Trump said the minds in international waters had been cleared or destroyed following a month's long American operation. So, we now have competing claims, which has really been the hallmark of this entire conflict. Washington says it has already restored safe shipping lanes. Iran and Oman are proposing their own mind-clearing operation and a new corridor that would give Tehran a much larger role in managing traffic. Iran's revolutionary guard corps, the IRGC, are making even broader claims. An IRGC spokesman said Iran and Oman had reached agreements over their respective shares of the strait and the revenues generated from it and always comes down to money. The spokesman did not explain what those revenues would include. Iran has previously proposed collecting fees for maritime services while Oman has said navigation should remain open without transit charges. And despite the IRGC's announcement, well, the agreement is apparently not finished. A senior Iranian source told Reuters that negotiations were continuing while Oman's foreign minister said he was hopeful that a temporary corridor would be announced soon. Oman has not publicly confirmed either the proposed military ban or the IRGC's claims about dividing revenues. And that distinction, of course, matters. Iran is presenting its preferred framework as though the major questions have already been settled. Oman is describing something much narrower, a temporary corridor, mind clearance and continued negotiations. Now the stakes obviously extend far beyond the two countries. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of the world's traded oil and liquefied natural gas moved through the strait of Hormuz. China, of course, remains heavily disrupted. Shipping data shows that only five commodity vessels cross the strait on Tuesday, well below the recent 10-day average of 15 and nowhere near normal pre-war activity. The bottom line is this. Iran appears to be trying to convert the leverage gained by mining the strait, attacking and restricting traffic through the strait into a permanent role governing the waterway. And that could mean controlling shipping routes and collecting revenues and determining which countries are permitted to send military vessels into the Persian Gulf. The agreement is in final, and Oman has not yet endorsed Tehran's most aggressive claims. But Iran has made its objective clear, Washington says it has reopened the shipping lanes. Huh. Well, again, the hallmark of this entire conflict has been mixed messaging, conflicting statements, and confusion. Coming up next, Chinese technology is making Russia's Iranian-designed drones faster and deadlier. While Washington dismantles a Chinese cyber espionage network that penetrated some of America's most sensitive agencies, I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here, with a solid tip for staying healthy and feeling great. Look, you and I know that finding time for workouts, right, when life gets crazy, yeah, it feels impossible. Later the life pro waiver vibration plate. In just 10 minutes, muscles constantly fire to stabilize, burning up to 200 calories with zero joint impact, and that's very important. It's like a brisk walk in half the time. Stand on it while working, or sit or add squats with resistant bands to amplify the burn. This thing is great. It really works well. Unlike flimsy knockoffs, the waiver is solid and premium. Over 2.5 million people rely on America's number one vibration plate brand. To start that metabolism risk-free with a 30 day return policy and a lifetime warranty. For a limited time, our listeners at the PDB can get $20 off the waiver vibration plate plus free shipping with code NERV at lifeprofitness.com. That's lifeprofitness.com and use the code NERV that's NERV, just like it sounds, for $20 off. And after you purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. If you don't mind, do me a favor, tell them the PDB sent you. I break down the new wars and weapons systems that are totally reshaping our world in my show capy army. But we go beyond simply just telling you what happened at a war, we actually investigate deeper into the why and how. At capy army, everything is informed by my experience as an average US army infantryman in Iraq and a war correspondent covering the front lines of the war in Ukraine. Just search capy army on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to get weekly open source intelligence reports and remember to follow today. Welcome back to the PDB. Russia is now deploying a new generation of Iranian design she had drones equipped with Chinese-made turbojet engines. Now, those engines allow the drones to fly at approximately 300 miles per hour, roughly three times faster than earlier versions. The upgrade is transforming an inexpensive one-way attack drone into something increasingly similar to a low-cost cruise missile. According to the Wall Street Journal, the turbojet-powered sheheads were among the weapons that Russia launched against Kiev in early July as part of a larger attack involving drones and ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. Approximately 30 people were killed in the larger assault. Now the increased speed matters, of course, because Ukraine had become remarkably effective at stopping the older versions of drones. Ukrainian officials say their forces can intercept more than 90 percent of the propeller-driven models that Russia sends into the country. Those drones fly slowly enough that Ukraine can hunt them with mobile gun teams or helicopters and inexpensive interceptor drones specifically designed to chase them down. But Ukraine's interceptor drones can't keep up with the turbojet version, and that means Kiev may have to use fighter aircraft or its limited supply of surface-to-air missiles instead. And that brings us back to the basic advantage that made the shehead so important in the first place, and that would be cost. A shehead can reportedly be produced for as little as $20,000 give or take a few. The interceptor missile used to destroy it can cost hundreds of thousands or potentially millions of dollars. Russia doesn't need every shahead to reach its target, even those that are destroyed, force Ukraine to detect, track, and engage them. Moscow also launches the drones alongside ballistic and cruise missiles, forcing Ukrainian air defenses to contend with large numbers of threats, moving at different speeds and altitudes. And China has become central to this evolution. Ukrainian investigators say they found engines manufactured by teleflight telecommunications equipment inside the new turbojet-powered drones. Now, teleflight is based in Shenzhen, and primarily produces computer hardware and communications equipment. But it also markets the line of small turbojet engines used in drones. The company did not respond to the journal's questions. However, after Ukraine publicly identified teleflight engines inside Russian drones, the turbojet section disappeared from the English language pages of the company's website. I'm sure that was just a coincidence. The same products remained available on its Chinese language pages, and through other Chinese vendors. Now, the engines are only one part of the story. Current and former American officials say China has become the most important clearing house for a components used in shaheads, including engine parts, servo motors, gyroscopes, and navigation equipment. Ukrainian researchers are also finding more Chinese antennas, modems, and SIM cards inside the drones. Those components allow Russia to correct flight paths using local communications networks. The shahead was originally assembled using electronics from several Western countries, including components manufactured by American and European companies. But investigations found that many of those parts reached Iran and Russia through shell companies and intermediaries, operating in mainland China and Hong Kong. Those intermediaries could order Western products while disguising their ultimate destination, of course. And now, even the Western components are gradually disappearing. Chinese manufacturers have become capable of producing many of the replacements themselves. The shaheads engines provide a good example of how this supply chain developed. The original Iranian engine was based on a German design. The Chinese company began distributing the German manufacturer's engines in 2012 and purchased the company outright five years later, you can see where this is going. The US later sanctioned one of the Chinese company's affiliates for supplying engines connected to Russia's drone program. Iran eventually produced its own version of the engine, but American officials say the Iranian manufacturer continued relying on inexpensive components obtained through China. That matters because Iran was able to take a relatively simple weapon, assemble it and use commercially available parts, and then transfer the technology to Russia. Ukraine says an Iranian company tied to the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, sold Moscow more than 13,000 shahead drones, along with components and manufacturing equipment, under a 2022 agreement valued at approximately $324 million. Russia calls its version of the shahead the Garan and has continued modifying the design based on battlefield experience. Some newer models have additional communications equipment, Ukrainian researchers have also discovered shaheads carrying anti-aircraft missiles, although at least one of those missiles was not operational and may have been attached simply to frighten off aircraft attempting to intercept the drone. Now there is an important distinction to make here. The evidence demonstrates the Chinese companies, factories, and intermediaries are essential to the shahead supply chain. It does not prove that they are personally authorized or directed every shipment. It's a very diplomatic statement. China says it strictly regulates what course they do, the export of products with both civilian and military uses and they say that with a straight face. It also rejects American sanctions imposed on companies involved in trading those components. But whatever Beijing's direct role may be, China's industrial capacity has helped Iran overcome years of sanctions and helped Russia build a weapon that is becoming faster, cheaper, and more difficult to stop. And the shahead is also spreading well beyond Ukraine. Iran has transferred its drone technology to countries including Venezuela, Syria, and Ethiopia. Russian forces have used shaheads in Mali, while China and India have displayed similar weapons of their own. The US has even developed an inexpensive one-way attack drone, inspired by the same basic concept. So it's no longer simply an Iranian drone being used by Russia, of course. It's a model for how modern weapons can be designed in one country, built with commercial technology from another and rapidly modified by a third. Alright, I want to shift to the US because we're learning just how deeply Chinese state-sponsored hackers allegedly penetrated the government, with the list of targets ranging from the Justice Department to NASA and other institutions. The FBI says it's taken down part of the digital infrastructure that those hackers used to hide where their attacks were actually coming from. The Justice Department announced Wednesday that investigators seized two Internet domains, tied to a pair of Chinese hacking platforms known as QScan and QT router. But before I explain what the FBI did, I want to show you who the US says was specifically behind all of this, and just how far their campaign reached. According to the DOJ document, QScan and QT router were created and operated by a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as QTFI, that's QTFY, in which works for a China-based technology company. The Justice Department says QTFI themselves hacking services to paying customers, including China's civilian intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security and the People's Liberation Army. Its infrastructure has allegedly been used to compromise critical infrastructure and other sensitive networks in the US and around the world, since at least 2018, with the intent to facilitate S.B. and I, I.M. shocked. The victims included NASA, the Federal Reserve, the Departments of Energy, Justice and Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the Senate, sounds like basically everybody but you and I. The document also identifies four unnamed companies in the US and South Korea as victims. Now, this is where the mechanics of what the hackers were doing can get fairly complicated, so I want to slow this down a bit, because the basic idea is pretty simple once you strip away the technical language. The two platforms, QScan and QT router, worked together. Starting with QScan, its job was essentially to scour the internet looking for vulnerable devices it could break into. Now, it's not necessarily about someone's laptop or cell phone, it's more so about internet-connected cameras or routers and thousands of other everyday devices around the world. Once QScan found a vulnerable device and infected it, that device could be recruited into QT router. Think of QT router as a massive network of middlemen, it allows hackers to route their activity through compromised devices rather than connecting directly to their targets. QT router also rented virtual servers, giving the hackers even more infrastructure to disguise where they were actually operating from. Imagine someone in China trying to break into a network in Washington, rather than malicious traffic appearing to come directly from China, it could be routed through a compromised device elsewhere, perhaps in the US or another country. In some cases, the Justice Department says it could even appear as though the hacker was operating from a computer located near the network being attacked. That's why the DOJ calls QT router a "obfuscation network" in simpler terms, it gave Chinese hackers somewhere to hide. But it also gave the FBI a way to hit back. Both QScan and QT router depended on two specific internet domains, essentially two addresses, the malware needed to communicate and function. The hackers had built those addresses directly into the malicious software. So the FBI didn't need to track down every infected camera or router or server individually. Instead, investigators went after those two domains. Once a federal court authorized the government to seize them, the DOJ says QScan and QT router could no longer communicate the way that they were designed to. Just like that, both platforms became inoperable. Someone was arrested in the operation, instead the FBI went after the digital infrastructure that the hackers depended on. Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg described it explicitly as "going on the offensive against cyber threats to national security." FBI Director Cash Patel went even further, saying the Bureau is increasingly trying to take the fight directly to Chinese cyber operators. And importantly, Patel explicitly connected the Bureau's increasingly direct effort to take the fight to Chinese cyber operators that drop administration's broader cyber strategy. He said, "In support of President Trump's cyber strategy for America, the FBI is surging efforts to shape adversary behavior and defend the homeland in cyberspace." All right, coming up in the back of the brief, Swiss voters will decide whether neutrality means ending peacetime cooperation with NATO and abandoning most Western sanctions. Hmm, more on that when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here, host of the PDB and, well, generally, acknowledged to be a grill master. Well, here's the thing. I love grilling in the summer, right? The outdoors, cold beverages, family, and friends. But once you move beyond burgers and steaks, well, grilling can get frustrating. You know what I'm talking about? Vegetables falling through the grates. Fish can fall apart, clean up, takes longer than the actual prep time. Well, that's why I've been using Hexclad's barbecue collection. Have you heard about this? Check it out. They brought hybrid technology outdoors, basically, making grilling tricky foods easier. The Hexclad barbecue grill pan lets heat and smoke circulate so you get that smoky grilled flavor without losing vegetables or seafood, fish, or cabobs. And the new barbecue grill topper, well, that gives you more control when cooking delicate foods or multiple portions. The searing power is great. You get even heating and everything is easy to clean. Plus, X-clad's terabond ceramic non-stick coating is free from forever chemicals and frankly nobody wants forever chemicals. So if you're planning on spending time on the grill for the rest of this summer in an OPR, don't make it harder than it needs to be. Stop losing food through the grates, stop fighting, clean up and upgrade your backyard cooking setup with Hexclad's barbecue collection. From now through September 8th, you can get up to 52% off Hexclad, an upgrade your kitchen for the new season. Just head to Hexclad.com/PDB. That's Hexclad, that's H-E-X-C-L-A-D Hexclad.com/PDB. And let them know that PDB sent you. Hey Mike Baker here, with a word about personal health and weight loss. Now everybody's talking in course about weight loss injections because the results have been so dramatic. They work by lowering blood sugar and reducing appetite. But what if you're looking to lose weight and you're not interested in painful weekly injections, right? Especially when you hear about some of those side effects. And that's why doctors created a weight loss supplement called lean that's L-E-A-N. And the results have been remarkable. The study ingredients in lean have been shown to lower your blood sugar, burn fat by converting it into energy, and curbing your appetite and cravings. So you're not as hungry, it's as simple as that. Well listen, lean is not for the casual diet or with only a few pounds to lose. The doctors at Brick House nutrition created lean for frustrated dieters with 10 or more pounds to lose. Let's get you started with 20% off and free rushed shipping so you can add lean to your healthy diet and exercise plan. Visit TakeLean.com and enter PDB for your discount. That's promo code PDB at TakeLean.com. But we go beyond simply just telling you what happened in a war. We actually investigate deeper into the why and how. Just search capy army on Apple podcast or Spotify to get weekly open source intelligence reports and remember to follow today. And today's back of the brief Russia's invasion of Ukraine is once again changing the security landscape in Europe, testing centuries of neutrality for the nation of Switzerland. And the latest test is coming directly from Swiss voters. Next month they'll decide whether to put a much stricter definition of neutrality into their constitution. When they could prevent Switzerland from joining Western sanctions or even cooperating with NATO during peace time, that's just us sitting on the fence don't mind us we'll just sit here on the fence to understand why that's such a whiplash you have to understand just how deeply neutrality is woven into Switzerland's identity. It was internationally recognized all the way back in 1815 became part of the Alpine nation's constitution in 1848 and helped keep Switzerland out of both world wars well in a way. For generations that arrangement largely worked, but when Putin launched his full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Switzerland joined European sanctions against Moscow while maintaining its long standing policy of military neutrality. Supporters of the referendum argue those sanctions crossed a line. In their view, Switzerland can't punish one side in a war economically and still credibly claim to be neutral. So they want to make the rules much harder to bend much harder to lean one way or another on that fence. Under the proposal, Switzerland could no longer join economic sanctions unless they are approved by the UN. Why? We'll cooperate with a military alliance like NATO unless Switzerland itself came under attack yet then we're going to want NATO's help. Posters featuring doves of peace. Well, there you go, and urging voters to reject war have appeared across the country. As campaigners argue, Switzerland is gradually abandoned the policy that kept it outside Europe's wars. One of the leading voices behind that campaign is veteran politician Kristoff Blocker of the right wing Swiss peoples party. He told Reuters, quote, "Switzerland has not had a war for 200 years because it's remained permanently armed and neutral." Blocker argues that I'm just pronouncing that possibly wrong. Let's go to Blocker. Blocker. Well, give it a try. Argus the Russian sanctions have already damaged that credibility warning quote a third world war may not be that far away and then it will matter whether we are credibly neutral or not and quote unless of course we're attacked and then we'd like NATO's help please. And Moscow perhaps unsurprisingly likes that argument. Here's a shock. Russia's foreign ministry has criticized Switzerland for aligning its sanctions with the European Union declaring quote in legal terms flexible neutrality means no neutrality at all and quote but the Swiss government sees the danger very differently. It argues that stricter neutrality could leave Switzerland with fewer options in a future crisis, less prepared to work with NATO and less able to join its European neighbors in imposing sanctions. For something so fundamental to Switzerland's identity the country's constitution doesn't exactly actually spell out what neutrality requires. Much of that framework instead comes from international law including the 1907 Hague Convention you remember that which requires neutral countries to remain impartial in war and prevents their territory from being used for military purposes. I guess it also does it include their banks. I don't remember. The government argues that the system is still working pointing to the war with Iran when Switzerland prohibited American military aircraft from using its airspace. For now voters appear to be siding with the government's argument. One recent poll shows 62 percent opposed and 36 percent in favor. All right that my friends is the president's daily brief for Thursday the 27th of August we are almost finished with the month of August can fall before around the corner. I don't think so. If you have any questions or comments just reach out to us at bdb at thefirsttv.com I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back later today with the bdb afternoon bulletin until then stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.