September 14th, 2026: China Helped Iran Carry Out Strike That Killed 3 U.S. Troops & Russian Drone Strikes Near Poland

It's Monday, the 14th of September. Welcome to the president's daily brief. I'm Mike Baker from your eyes and ears on the world stage. And congratulations to all Miss another in the win category. Next up, they're playing LSU Lane Kiffin returns to Oxford, Mrs. Cippy. That's going to be high entertainment right there. Alright, let's get briefed. First up, new reporting says Iran obtained Chinese satellite imagery of a US base before launching the attack that killed three American troops in Jordan. We'll tell you what US officials are now saying about Beijing's role. Later in the show, Iran-backed hoodie forces seized a strategic island at the entrance to the Red Sea, putting another major global oil route undergrowing pressure. Plus Russia targets a train near the Polish border on a rail line, regularly used by foreign leaders traveling into Ukraine. And in today's back of the brief, US-Canada relations continue to deteriorate, as Prime Minister Mark Carney explores whether Canada could become a "associate member" of the European Union. But first, today's PDB spotlight. We're getting new details about the Iranian missile strike. They killed three American troops in Jordan this summer. And what US officials now say was a critical piece of intelligence that Iran obtained before the attack. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Iranian regime acquired a high-resolution satellite imagery of the US base from Chinese entities before launching the July 17 strike. According to US officials familiar with the intelligence, those images have now been connected to that attack. And they say it represents the clearest evidence yet that Chinese support for Iran during this war has had lethal consequences for American forces. The target was Muafik Salty Air Base, that's in northeastern Jordan. Iran launched three separate missile strikes against the base over a 24-hour period. One of those ballistic missiles hit a housing area where American troops had been sleeping. Three US soldiers were killed, four others were wounded and medically evacuated. Iran also targeted manned and unmanned aircraft stationed at the base. And according to the journal, Tehran had obtained high-resolution Chinese satellite imagery of the installation before the attack and continued acquiring imagery after the attacks. Now US officials are not alleging yet that Beijing ordered the strike nor directly participated in it. And there's no public evidence establishing that the Chinese government specifically instructed anyone to provide Iran with imagery of this base. But there's an important distinction here. China's commercial satellite industry doesn't operate with the same separation, the same firewall between private companies and the government that were accustomed to seeing in the US or with other western countries. The journal notes that even ostensibly private Chinese satellite companies operate under extensive government oversight and many have connections to the Chinese government or the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP. So while the reporting doesn't establish that Beijing directed this operation, it also doesn't answer how much the Chinese government knew about or potentially enabled the flow of satellite intelligence to the Iranian regime. If one were to speculate, it would not be unfair to state that a Chinese company or companies would not likely provide the Iranian regime with detailed targeting information on a US military facility without clearing it first with Chinese government authorities. And Washington had been warning Beijing about this problem long before those three Americans were killed. Senior US officials reportedly spent months telling their Chinese counterparts the Chinese companies were providing satellite imagery to Iran that Iran could use to target American personnel and military assets throughout the Middle East. In May, the Trump administration sanctioned three Chinese companies, Mizar Vision, Earth Eye and Changguan, saying their imagery could threaten US and allied forces, and then came the July 17 attack. And what happened beforehand may help explain why Iran was suddenly becoming much more accurate. Earlier in the war, US strikes had degraded Iran's radar satellites and other surveillance capabilities. Officials noticed that Iranian missiles were often landing in areas with little to no military value, suggesting that Tehran simply didn't have a very clear picture of what was happening inside American bases. But over the summer, that began to change. Iran's targeting improved. Fresh, high-resolution satellite imagery could show Tehran where aircraft had been moved, where new structures had appeared, where defensive systems were positioned, and where personnel might be concentrated. And imagery taken after an attack could tell Iran what it actually hit, allowing its military to assess the damage and adjust its next strike. The Chinese imagery also appears to be just one part of a much larger intelligence picture. Chinese technology continues to show up elsewhere in Iran's military capabilities, including navigation services and components used in drones and missiles. Obviously, American officials are concerned about where this may be heading next, because Iran isn't only firing at fixed American facilities. They're trying to hit US warships. In recent days, Iran has launched ballistic missiles, adding American aircraft carrier and other Navy vessels operating in the region. Centcom says those attacks failed, but US officials told the journal that some were close calls, and that Iran appears to be improving its ability to target ships that are moving, and officials are now examining whether Chinese capabilities may be helping Iran track those American naval assets. Again, none of this proves that Beijing is sitting in a command center directing Iranian missile attacks. But it does raise a question, Washington increasingly needs to answer, how much does the Chinese government know about the military support flowing from Chinese companies to a country actively firing missiles at American troops? The timing also creates another problem for Washington. President Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese leaders Xi Jinping on September 24, and the journal reports that Trump has made maintaining a good relationship with Xi a priority. Administration officials have reportedly tried to avoid public confrontations with Beijing that could derail that summit. But reportedly, behind the scenes, US officials have already confronted their Chinese counterparts about the satellite imagery tied to the Jordan attack. I'm sure that will do it. The Chinese reportedly pushed back and demanded proof. Now, not to put too fine a point on it, but you would have to be naive or willfully ignorant to think that these Chinese imagery companies are acting on their own initiative. Providing information, in other words, to the Iranian regime that allows the IRGC to be more effective and deadly in their targeting of US military assets, to be doing something so sensitive and with so much potential for blowback on the international stage without getting authorization from the Chinese government, well, that would be suicide for these Chinese imagery companies. The Chinese Communist Party and China's People's Liberation Army are hiding behind the thin facade of plausible deniability, knowing full well that the Trump administration has no interest in rocking the boat with China ahead of the planned summit. And a somewhat harshly worded memo or a diplomatic note from US underlings will have no impact on China's actions. If the Chinese leadership wanted to stop their companies from providing targeting assistance to the Iranian regime, they could accomplish that task within the hour. But that isn't happening. Alright, coming up next, Iran-Bak khutis sees a strategic red sea island and a Russian drone strikes a train near the Polish border on a route used by foreign leaders. More on those stories when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, do you ever feel like navigating the world of AI is a whole second job? Right? 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Once again, that's pplx.ai/pdb to try it today. Most AI tools, well, they're still answering questions, while perplexity computer is completing full projects. Welcome back to the PDB. The last time we checked in on Yemen, the Houthis were pushing down the country's Red Sea Coast, fighting their way toward the Babalman-Deb Strait. Well, late last week, the Iran-backed militiam seized Perim Island, giving the Houthis a foothold directly inside the Babalman-Deb Strait. The capture followed a rapid advance through Mocha, and toward the Hanish Islands that pushed government-aligned troops further south. After days of fierce fighting, the Houthis also took a doobob, the directly across from Perim Island, before going forward. government forces withdrew from the island, and the Houthi fighters moved in. Its fighters are now stationed along the Yemeni coastline directly beside Babalman Deb Strait, and on an island sitting in the middle of the strait. Patherim divides the narrowest section of Babalman Deb into two shipping channels, and he vessel moving between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden has to pass to those waters. For the Houthis, that means getting much closer to the same commercial ships that they've spent years threatening with missiles and drones. Sitting in 2023, the militia repeatedly attacked vessels in the Red Sea from positions farther north in Yemen. That's why a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group, an independent organization that tracks conflicts around the world, called the capture of Patherim Island "game changer." In the past, the analyst said the Houthis were creating uncertainty around Babalman Deb. Now, they're gaining control of the territories surrounding it. The Houthis insist that international shipping remains safe, but there's one major exception, and that's Saudi-linked vessels. The militia declared a blockade against Saudi shipping earlier this year. And its latest territorial gains put Houthi forces in a much stronger position along the same Red Sea route that Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on due to the instability in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has heavily disrupted oil traffic there, forcing Saudi Arabia to rely more heavily on its east-west pipeline to move crude across the kingdom and then out through terminals on the Red Sea. That pipeline can carry as much as 7 million barrels of oil a day. But last week, the Saudi's alternative route came under attack. Several drones launched from Iraq's southern Mason province struck the pipeline in the Riyadh and Medina regions, causing fires, damaging injuries, and ultimately forcing Saudi Arabia to shut down the pipeline. Now no group is so far claim responsibility, and Saudi and Iraqi officials have not publicly identified who launched the attack. Mason, however, sits along the Iranian border and is home to Iran-backed armed groups. Well, if only we had some clues. For now, Saudi Arabia is holding off unretaliating, giving the Iraqi government time to find those responsible and prevent another attack from its territory. Baghdad has condemned the attack and opened an investigation. It also dismissed the military commander responsible for the southern province of Mason where the drones were launched. But there's another piece to all of this, and that is, of course, Iran. As its Huti allies expanded their position around Bab al-Mandeb, the Iranian regime voiced support for Yemen's sovereignty. Regime sources previously told Reuters that Tehran had promised the Huti's additional weapons and funding and had sent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders to Yemen to help coordinate the attacks. The escalating threat has now also reached the White House. Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman recently urged President Trump to take military action against the Huti's. Trump reportedly declined to commit U.S. forces to that fight, but agreed to continue providing intelligence and targeting assistance as Washington focuses on protecting freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. That mission has now become considerably more complicated. Iran has already demonstrated its ability to choke off toil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Now, its Huti allies have a foothold inside the region's other major maritime choke point. All right, turning now to the war on Ukraine, where Russia's drone campaign is once again putting civilian infrastructure along NATO's eastern front in the line of fire. Over the weekend, a Russian drone struck an evacuated train, little more than a mile from Poland, as Moscow unleashed its largest drone barrage against Ukraine in months. The train had already been evacuated after Ukraine received warning that an attack was coming. Ukrainian authorities detached the locomotive from passenger cars and the Russian drone ultimately struck the engine. The train was near the Yehoden border crossing, which sits just over a mile from Poland, traveling along one of the main railway corridors that connects Ukraine with the rest of Europe. Five minutes before the Russian drone hit, another train had traveled along that same stretch of track and crossed safely into Poland. On board was a group of foreign dignitaries returning from a summit in Kiev, including former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bilt. Now foreign leaders have repeatedly used this corridor to travel into and out of Ukraine throughout the war, including former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Finnish President Alexander Stubben. The train attack got an immediate reaction from Poland. Polish fighter jets was scrambled as Russian attacks hit areas close to the border. Warning alarms were also activated for residents in parts of eastern Poland. The country's military said those measures were "preventive in nature" and intended to protect Polish airspace. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's schedule a special meeting of the country's top security officials. And Ukraine's foreign minister put the significance of the attack bluntly. He called it "Putin's terror" knocking directly on the doors of the EU and NATO. Many urged that Ukraine's allies to "throw the full weight of your sanctions" at Putin's aggressive regime." But this attack near Poland was only one small part of what Russia unleashed against Ukraine over the weekend. Ukraine's Air Force says Moscow launched 863 drones between Saturday and Sunday morning. It's largest drone barrage in months. At one point more than 400 Russian drones were attacking Ukraine simultaneously, something that hadn't happened since early July. And Moscow wasn't limiting those attacks to Kiev or areas along the front. For the first time, Russia struck petrol stations in western Ukraine after destroying hundreds of gas stations closer to the front earlier this summer. The country's broader railway network was hit too. A station was struck in the western city of Lutsk, where video posted to social media showed a passenger train burning, and other station was hit in the Kiev region. Those attacks come after weeks of Russian strikes on civilian infrastructure across Ukraine, including Black Sea ports, warehouses, and shopping malls. There's also something interesting about how Russia carried out this latest barrage. We've talked recently on the PDB about Moscow, increasingly using newer jet-powered drones that fly faster and are more difficult for Ukraine to intercept. But most of the drones that Russia launched this weekend weren't those newer versions. They were older, slower, piston-powered, Shahed Iranian-made drones. And Ukrainian officials believed Moscow deliberately chose conditions that would make even those slower drones harder to stop. The barrage came during cloudy and rainy weather, which makes it more difficult for Ukrainian interceptor drone pilots to find and destroy incoming Iranian-made Shahed's. A Russian drone struck a grocery store in a region west of Kiev, killing two people, while a separate attack saw nine injured around Odessa. Ukrainian President Zelensky said Moscow's attacks are aimed at "destroying every facility that can help people withstand the conditions of war." Coming up in the back of the brief, US-Canadian ties continue to deteriorate as Ottawa explores an unprecedented new relationship with the European Union. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here, with an important message about planning for your future. Now, I know it's not a conversation that folks like to have, but it is important to be organized and to protect your family for when you're gone. 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ARCA Wealth is fee-only, so what you pay is transparent. For important disclosures, please visit ARCA Wealth.com. This segment is a paid promotion for ARCA Wealth full disclosure I'm not a client and the PDB as an incentive to endorse ARCA Wealth. In today's back of the brief, in Canada. Canada is considering a remarkable economic shift toward Europe. Prime Minister Mark Carney is exploring a new relationship that could tie Ottawa much closer to the European Union. According to the Wall Street Journal, Carney and other officials in Canada and Europe are discussing whether to create a new status that would make Canada a so-called associate member of the EU block, potentially giving the country much deeper access to the European economy. Notably, the EU, which has historically been reluctant to bend its membership rules, is reportedly open to considering the idea. And what they're talking about goes much farther than another free trade agreement. Canada and the EU are exploring ways to allow Canadian goods, services and workers in strategic industries, including energy and artificial intelligence, defense and critical minerals, to move much more freely between the two economies. That arrangement could essentially shift the EU's economic border across the Atlantic. They're also discussing jointly building undersea cables, data centers, satellite networks and infrastructure to ship Canadian energy across the Atlantic. Carney has raised another major possibility with European leaders, allowing Canadians to live and work more freely inside the EU. According to the report, he's spoken regularly with several European leaders, most notably French President Emmanuel Macron about some form of visa-free arrangement. And this is where the US enters the frame. As we've discussed before, the trade fight between Ottawa and Washington has been all over the headlines with tariffs now affecting tens of billions of dollars in cross-border trade. That's given Carney considerably more incentive to reduce Canada's dependence on the US. But doing that is much easier said than done. Currently 72% of all Canadian merchandise exports still went to the US last year, and the two economies have been deeply integrated for decades. Europe can't simply replace that relationship. But Canada has plenty that Europe wants, including enormous energy resources, critical minerals, access to the Arctic, and a growing defense industry. Canada has already become the first non-European country to participate in the EU's Safe Defense Initiative, giving Canadian companies greater access to Europe's massive defense buildup. So these latest discussions would take an existing shift considerably further. If Europe gains substantially greater access to Canadian energy, critical minerals and defense manufacturing, the US could eventually find itself competing more directly with Europe for Canadian investment, production, and resources. But as you might suspect there are major obstacles. The EU would first have to create an entirely new associate member status for a country on the other side of the Atlantic. And Canada's existing trade agreement with Europe does offer a warning. More than a decade after that agreement was reached and nine years after it provisionally took effect, several European countries still haven't fully ratified it. So as you again could suspect, deeper integration may well face years of political and legal negotiations. And that my friends is the president's daily brief for Monday, the 14th of September. Now if you have any questions or comments, just reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And hopefully you had a chance to catch this weekend's episode of our PDB Situation Report. If not, it's always available on our YouTube channel, this search up at president's daily brief on YouTube, of course. And you can also find the show on podcast platforms all over podcast land. I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.