PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 10th, 2026: Iran’s Missiles Hit U.S. Fighter Jets

It's Thursday, the 10th of September. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. Okay, late afternoon, possibly early evening bulletin. It's been a busy, busy day. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, new reporting shows that Iran's attack on a base in Jordan Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning this week hit several American combat aircraft. We'll have the details. Later in the show, we're keeping a close eye on the growing conflict in Yemen, where Houthi territorial gains along the Red Sea coast are bringing the fight dangerously close to the Babelman devs straight. That, of course, is a key transportation route. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Iran's latest missile attack on Jordan did more damage than initially reported. Multiple American combat aircraft were hit at Muafak Salty Air Base, including apparently eight F-15 strike eagles and one A-10 warthog. According to CBS News, the F-15s suffered relatively light damage and were quickly returned to service. The A-10 was hit much harder with sources saying the aircraft lost a wing. Now, in airplane terms, I understand that that's not good. No American personnel were killed in the attack and all US forces in Jordan were accounted for. But the damage complicates the initial assessment from American officials who described Iran's response initially as ineffective. The barrage itself was substantial. Iran fired 20 ballistic missiles toward Jordan, according to the Jordanian military. Air defenses reportedly intercepted 18 of them while the remaining two were said to have fallen in unpopulated areas. US forces also fired more than 30 Patriot interceptors during the attack, that's according to CBS News. And that does leave an obvious question. If 18 of the 20 Iranian missiles were intercepted and the other two landed away from populated areas, how did roughly nine American aircraft end up damaged? Well, that sounds just like a word problem on an SAT test, doesn't it? So far, officials have not publicly explained exactly what caused the damage. They could have come from missiles reaching the base debris from interceptions or another part of the barrage. Up until the Pentagon provides more detail, well, we are simply speculating. What we do know is why Iran launched the attack. It came after another sharp escalation at sea. US forces struck five Iranian oil tankers after Tecaran again attempted to hit an American warship with ballistic missiles. Those strikes brought the number of Iranian tankers destroyed or disabled by the US military since Saturday to eight. Iran answered by claiming attacks against multiple vessels around the state of Khormuz and launching the ballistic missile barrage toward the American-used base in Jordan. Commercial shipping has also been caught in the exchange with merchant vessels damaged and sailors killed. And the economic consequences are now becoming harder to ignore. Brent Crude has climbed above $100 a barrel as markets react to the combination of tanker attacks, disrupted shipping through Khormuz and the growing risk that fighting could spread further across Gulf energy infrastructure. But the new reporting from Jordan raises another problem for Washington and that would be the cost of defending American forces. More than 30 Patriot missiles were reportedly fired to help stop a barrage of 20 Iranian ballistic missiles. Those interceptors are, of course, among the most valuable air defense weapons in the US inventory. And the Pentagon has already been dealing with concerns about how quickly stocks are being consumed during this conflict. So even if the defense has prevented a much worse outcome, Iran still managed to impose a cost. American aircraft were damaged. More than 30 Patriot interceptors were expended, and the Iranian regime has shown that it's willing to continue targeting US military bases, ships, and personnel across the region. And if the next barrage from the regime produces US casualties, this conflict will escalate very quickly. All right, coming up next. The Khutis are expanding their control along Yemen's coastline, and their latest gains are bringing them closer to the gateway of the Red Sea. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, if you're like me, you enjoy the occasional ride out, right? But well, not the morning after. That's why I want to tell you about a game-changing product. It's called Zbiotics Pre-Alcohol. 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Try Quo for free, plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo.com/PDB. Once again, that's QuoQUO. Quo.com/PDB. Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin. We're keeping a close eye on Yemen, and the renewed fighting along the country's Red Sea coast between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed government forces. The Houthis pushed toward one of the world's most important shipping routes, the Babelman-Debs straight, and that move is happening faster than anticipated. Fighters of the Iran-backed militia seized the Yemeni port city of Mokha, and are now pushing farther south toward the Babelman-Debs straight. That's of course the narrow waterway that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. As we discussed on Monday here on the PDB, officials with Yemen's internationally recognized government were already warning that the Houthis appeared to be moving toward Mokha, now that's cutting supply routes and capturing positions around western Tais. Now, for Yemeni government military sources to all Reuters, the Houthis have taken the city, as the militia increasingly shifts its focus from expanding its control in northern Yemen to gaining territory along the country's long coastline. And Mokha is likely not the final objective. The Houthis have also attacked the strategic Hanish Islands farther out in the Red Sea, pushing government forces and their allies south toward the Bab. Now, to give you a sense of the geography here, all of this is unfolding along Yemen's western coast along the Red Sea. The Hanish Islands sit offshore north of Mokha and overlook vessels approaching the strait, continue south along the Yemeni coast, and you reach Dubab, which sits directly on Babam and Deb and across from the island of Parim. Now, Yemeni military sources say that controlling Dubab and Parim would be key to gaining control of the strait. And we're already seeing signs of how much pressure that is putting on government aligned forces. One of the main commanders standing in the Houthis way along this stretch of coastline is Tarek Saleh, now the leader of the national resistance forces, and an ally of Yemen's internationally recognized government. This afternoon, Saleh ordered his forces to establish an alternative command center in a safer location as Houthis continued pushing them back. Houthis fighters were also filmed celebrating their advances with Reuters verifying video of armed militants chanting, quote, "death to America, death to Israel," not exactly original. But this isn't simply a fight over another piece of Yemen. Babam and Deb is the southern gateway to the Red Sea, sitting between Yemen and the African coast. Ships traveling north through it can eventually reach the Suez Canal, making the strait a critical artery, connecting Asia and Middle Eastern trade with Europe. Crude oil and fuel from the Gulf move through it toward the Mediterranean, while other commodities travel through the waterway toward Asia. Now, we've already seen how much damage the Houthis can inflict on that trade without actually controlling the strait. In 2023, the militia repeatedly attacked commercial vessels in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, attacks that resumed this year as the Houthis joined Iran's confrontation with the U.S. More recently, the militia declared out naval blockade against Saudi Arabia, making the "timings" of this latest advance particularly dangerous for the Saudi Kingdom. With shipping through the Strait of Hormuz heavily disrupted by the conflict with Iran, Riyadh has been loading millions of barrels of oil a day on the Red Sea, allowing those shipments to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. But oil traveling from their towardation markets may eventually have to pass directly through the Babelman-Deb Strait. That leaves Saudi Arabia confronting threats around both sides of the Arabian Peninsula. Iran around the Strait of Hormuz, of course, and Iran backed Houthi forces advancing toward Babelman-Deb. In response, Saudi Arabia is putting Iran on notice. Sources tell Reuters that Pakistan delivered a Saudi warning to Iran this week to rein in its Houthi allies before the conflict spirals further. The Iranian regime's response was that, quote, "Iran" does not control the Houthis, and quote, "Well, except for providing them with money and weapons and training and guidance and leadership over many years, other than that, yeah, no connection." But according to two Iranian sources who spoke with Reuters, Tehran told the Houthis last week to attack Saudi Arabia and promise them additional weapons and funding. Those sources say several IRGC commanders traveled to Yemen to help coordinate the attacks, but yeah, they don't control the Houthis. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Thursday the 10th of September. Now if you have any questions or comments, and I hope you do, just reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And to listen to the show, add free, very simple to do, just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting PDBpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Now we have all heard those radio ads about the IRS, you know the ones I'm talking about. They tell you to be afraid, be very afraid, and then they try to frighten you into calling. Well tax relief advocates, TRA, is different. Look if you owe money to the IRS, whether it's 5,000 or 50,000 or 500,000, hopefully it's not that. TRA has a solution to your tax problem. Don't lose hope. TRA could reduce or even eliminate what you owe to the IRS. Their passion is taxes and helping individuals and businesses fix their IRS problems. 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