It's Thursday, the 24th of September. Welcome to the President's daily brief. I'm Mike Baker from your eyes and ears on the world stage. Alright, let's get briefed. The first up Iran says it will not bend to the U.S., but the regime is reportedly negotiating again as new U.S. sanctions squeeze its ability to travel and trade. Later in the show, Zelensky asks Trump for a winter weapons package as Washington pushes a limited Russia Ukraine ceasefire. Plus tensions continue to escalate between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with Islamabad claiming that Taliban forces shelved Pakistani border posts. And in today's back of the brief, President Trump wants a drone port built into the new White House ballroom. I mean, is it really a ballroom without a drone port? However, it turns out the Secret Service already has one operating right next door. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Iranian President Masood Psezhkin says his country will not surrender to the U.S. Even as Washington increases the economic pressure on Tehran, and the two sides reportedly reopen diplomatic talks for the first time in months. Speaking before the U.N., yesterday Psezhkin said Iran would never "bend at the knee" to American pressure. His remarks came one day after President Trump used the same forum at the United Nations to warn that the U.S. could "analy" Iran if the conflict continues. Now, of course, Iran is saying that it's not going to surrender. No Iranian President is going to stand before the U.N. and announced that American pressure is working. But at the same time that Psezhkin was talking tough publicly, Psezhkin and Washington were talking again privately. According to Reuters, U.S. and Iranian officials held their first known indirect talks since this ceasefire collapsed back in July. A Qatari mediator spent roughly two hours carrying messages between the two delegations in New York. That sounds like fun. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Aragchi communicated with U.S. envoy Steve Whitgolf and Jared Kushner through intermediaries. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the two sides remained far apart on how to end the war, but said that diplomacy does need to continue. And those indirect talks are restarting in a moment when the pressure on Tehran is increasing. The American naval blockade has squeezed Iran's ability to export oil and move goods by sea. Tehran's attempt to compensate by pushing more trade overland has run into bottlenecks at its borders, higher transportation costs, and blank the delays. And now, Washington is going after Iran's ability to move through the air. The Trump administration announced earlier this month that Iran's entire air transport sector would be subjected to sanctions. Treasury Secretary Scott Besan warned that beginning on the 23rd of September, Iranian airlines would face increasing difficulty operating internationally. Those measures took effect yesterday and countries are already responding. Georgia, the country, not the U.S. state, has banned flights operated by Iranian carriers. Azerbaijan has suspended Iranian airline operations. Iran's Mohan Air suspended flights to Turkey at Ankara's request. Now, Iraq ordered Iranian flights into Baghdad international airports suspended beginning yesterday, although Iraqi officials are considering allowing some of those flights to land instead in Najaf, an important destination for Shiite pilgrims. Iran's own civil aviation organization says flights from Tehran to Baghdad, as well as Oman, were cancelled. Iranian officials also say passengers were being prevented from entering the airport in Oman while the two sides worked through the issue. Other Iranian international flights are still operating, including some service to Istanbul and Dubai. Russia and China also continued to accept Iranian aircraft. So Iran is not being completely cut off from international air travel, but the list of places that its airlines can operate is beginning to shrink. Now, the mechanism Washington is using here is fairly straightforward. Foreign companies that refuel, service, sell tickets for or otherwise assist sanctioned Iranian airlines, confine themselves facing American secondary sanctions. That forces airports, airlines and service companies in other countries to decide whether continuing to do business with Iranian carriers is worth risking losing access to the U.S. financial system. For Tehran, this all comes on top of the pressure that we've already been discussing at sea and on land. Iran's reaction suggests officials in Tehran are taking this seriously. Mosin Rezae, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, issued a warning yesterday to neighboring countries considering cooperation with the American sanctions campaign. Rezae said that if neighboring governments prevent Iranian aircraft from using their airports, Iran would make sure those airports, quote, "could not function." He did not explain exactly what that meant. All right, coming up next, Zelensky in Ukraine asks Trump for more weapons, as Washington pushes for a limited ceasefire. And Pakistan says Taliban forces shelved border posts and launch drones across the frontier. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, well, here's a statement of the obvious getting older hits hard, right? And we're all getting older. That's kind of what we all have in common. As we age, stiff joints and slow recovery become the new normal. 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Just sit on over to Bubs Natural's again, that's B-U-B-S, BubsNatural's.com, and use the Code PDB and you're all set. And after you purchase, well, no ask where you heard about them. If you don't mind, do me a favor. Tell them the PDB sent you. This coming winter could put Ukraine's power and heating systems under severe pressure. If Russia steps up its infrastructure attack, says it's done in years past. With autumn officially here, President Zelensky is now trying to get ahead of it. At the UN General Assembly meeting Tuesday, he asked President Trump for a winter arms package, including Patriot anti-missile systems and other defenses. He believes Trump will also try to broker a deal to stop the Kremlin's attacks on energy infrastructure. But Zelensky does not think Putin will stop simply because Washington asks him to. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Zelensky said the Russian strongman is unlikely to change course without more pressure from the US, including stronger sanctions. Now that Russia's elections are behind Putin, Zelensky believes the Russian President has little reason to adjust or limit his targeting of Ukrainian infrastructure. And then there's the outside help that Zelensky says Moscow is receiving. He accused China of supplying Russia with technology and suggested some of it could resemble starling-style communications. Zelensky did not specify what Beijing had specifically provided. But it helps explain why he wants Washington to increase the pressure on Putin. At the same time, Zelensky wants Ukraine ready if the talks go nowhere. And that's the thinking behind his request for patriots and other American technology, before Russia has another chance to target the power in heating systems that Ukrainians rely on in the winter. Now here's where the ceasefire idea gets complicated, not that it wasn't complicated before. Ukraine has been hitting Russian refineries for months, and Zelensky says those strikes have destroyed 45 percent of Russia's refining capacity. That figure has not been independently confirmed, but the attacks have disrupted Russia's fuel industry enough that Moscow has restricted most diesel exports to keep supplies at home. Trump has been pressing Zelensky to stop hitting those refineries. Fuel prices, of course, are rising, and the worse in Ukraine and the Middle East have already put a strain on energy markets. And while President Trump has said repeatedly that he does not care about the upcoming US midterm elections, well, the reality is that US voters care about gas prices. Zelensky says Trump did not bring up prices when they met New York, though he knows where the administration stands. His point is that Ukraine cannot stop hitting Russian energy facilities while Moscow keeps attacking the power in heating systems that Ukrainians rely on. So the deal he wants would have to work both ways. Kyiv stops striking the Kremlin's energy hubs if Russia stops hitting Ukraine's. Earlier this month, Trump did announce that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop striking each other's energy facilities, but neither side confirmed an agreement, [BLANK_AUDIO]
the attacks continued. Now that brings us to what Secretary of State Mark Rubio said after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday. According to Rubio, both Russia and Ukraine have expressed interest in a limited ceasefire involving energy and grain related targets. He also said it would be difficult to reach such an agreement. Before Rubio met Lavrov, the Kremlin said there were no grounds for broader peace talks, though it maintained that Russia was open to negotiations. Well, they've said they've been open to negotiations for almost five years now that Putin's been carrying out this invasion. And Ukraine's scramble for a ceasefire of some sort ahead of the winter months has put another proposal on the table in the Black Sea. Zelensky this week said that Egypt, India, and Turkey had set Ukraine written ideas for making Black Sea shipping safer. He made it clear that Kiev was ready to move forward if Russia took steps toward a maritime truce. And so far Moscow has made no public commitment to an energy or maritime truce. Zelensky added that he would also be Putin directly if Trump would join them for a three-way meeting. All right, next up, we're keeping a close eye on the ongoing conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which escalated again yesterday. Pakistani officials say Afghan Taliban forces sheld Pakistani border posts overnight with mortars and other heavy weapons. And separately, Pakistani security sources say that military shot down eight drones launched from Afghanistan after they crossed into Pakistani airspace near the Torkam border in the city of Kohat. Now Kabul denies that Taliban forces carried out the shelling, and we don't have a depending confirmation that the drones were launched by the Afghan Taliban. But taken together, the reports point to another potentially dangerous step in a confrontation that's been building over the past several days. When we last reported on this situation on Monday, Pakistan had launched air strikes inside Afghanistan following last week's deadly militant attack in Kohat. Islamabad said those strikes targeted militant hideouts and killed 28 fighters. Afghan officials disputed parts of that account, saying civilians were also killed, and Kabul condemned the strikes as a violation of Afghan sovereignty. And then came the latest fighting. According to Pakistani officials, militants attempted to cross from Afghanistan into Pakistan overnight near the border. Islamabad says its forces stopped that infiltration attempt. Pakistani officials then say Afghan Taliban forces opened fire on Pakistani border posts with mortars and other heavy weapons. Pakistan says its troops responded with artillery, striking Taliban border positions and defensive sites on the Afghan side. Again, Kabul denies that account. A Taliban government spokesman said that Afghan forces did not attack Pakistani positions. So at this point, we have competing claims over exactly who opened fire and what happened along the border. But the drone reports, they add another layer. Pakistani security sources say eight drones entered Pakistani airspace from Afghanistan on Wednesday. Four were reportedly intercepted near the twokam border crossing while another four were shot down around Kohat, the same area hit by last week's deadly attack. The Pakistani officials described the drones as relatively rudimentary and say they were destroyed without causing casualties or significant damage. What remains unclear is who actually launched them. Pakistan is blaming the Afghan Taliban. Kabul has not confirmed that and there's been no independent verification of the Pakistani claim. Still, the broader pattern is what we're watching. Pakistan is long accused Afghanistan's Taliban government of allowing the Pakistani Taliban to operate from Afghan territory and launch attacks across the border. Kabul again denies providing the group a safe haven. So that dispute is not new. What's more concerning is how quickly it's now producing direct military action between the two countries. In the span of just a few days, Pakistan has carried out air strikes inside Afghanistan. Kabul has condemned those strikes. Pakistan now says Afghan Taliban forces shielded its border positions. Pakistani artillery reportedly fired back. And Islamabad says drones launched from Afghan territory crossed into Pakistani airspace. Now there are still efforts underway to keep this whole situation from spiraling out of control. China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have all been involved in trying to reduce tensions between the two sides. But for now, well for now, the trend is moving in the wrong direction. All right, coming up in the back of the brief, the new White House ballroom could come with a drone port. How about that? Adding to the one that the Secret Service already operates nearby. 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Each station houses a small, unarmed drone, equipped with cameras and sensors that can launch quickly if agents need an overhead look at a potential threat. The Secret Service calls the concept to "drone as first responder." Instead of waiting for an aircraft or a helicopter, agents can launch one of these drones, get live video of whatever is happening around the complex, and then return it to its docking station. The capability has taken on greater urgency, of course, since the attempted assassination of Trump back in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024. The gunman there had used a drone to scout the rally site before the attack, while the Secret Service did not have one providing aerial surveillance at the event. But Trump's vision for the new ballroom appears to be considerably more ambitious. He's talked about putting what he calls a "drone port" or a "drone gallery" on the roof, taking advantage of a 360-degree view of Washington. Trump has also described plans for military personnel, sniper positions, and what he called "massive drone capacity," all happened in there on top of the ballroom. Rendering circulated by Trump have even shown larger military-style drones. Now, exactly what would actually be stationed there, well, that remains unclear. The White House has not publicly identified the types of drones involved, whether any would be armed, or precisely what missions they would perform. And the Secret Service says its existing drone stations are separate from whatever is eventually built on the ballroom. Now, there's a serious security issue underneath all of this, of course. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have shown how inexpensive commercial drones can be turned into extremely effective weapons. They can carry explosives, of course, conduct surveillance and approach targets at low altitude, creating a very different security problem from traditional aircraft. Protecting the White House from those threats also gets complicated because, well, it sits inside some of the most crowded and restricted airspace in the country, with Reagan National Airport, military aircraft, and law enforcement drones all operating nearby. So, whatever eventually ends up on top of the new ballroom,
Well, it will have to fit into an already complicated defense network. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief. For Thursday, the 24th of September, now if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at
[email protected]. And of course, if you'd like an ad-free PDB we can make that happen, just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.
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