September 28th, 2026: Trump Rejects Iran’s Deal & Explosives Arrests Near U.S. Air Base

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First up, President Trump shuts down Iran's latest peace proposal, rejecting a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as U.S. officials say that renewed American strikes could follow the midterm elections. Later in the show, British police arrest several men on suspected terrorism charges near RAF Fairford, that's the air base used by the U.S. to strike. The U.S. has also warned that the U.S. military may not be able to defend the U.S. troops against the U.S. as a result of the U.S. attack on Iran. But the U.S. attack on Iran. The U.S. attack on Iran. But the U.S. attack on Iran. The U.S. attack on Iran. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. President Trump has reportedly rejected Iran's latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin winding down the war, apparently betting that Washington has more leverage right now, and that there's little reason to give that leverage away. The proposal was fairly straightforward. Iran offered a seven-day pause in the fighting, seven days, along with reopening the Strait of Hormuz and beginning broader negotiations that could, possibly, sometime, include a U.S.-led nuclear program. In return, the regime wanted the U.S. to lift its naval blockade, ease sanctions on Iranian oil, and unfreeze some Iranian assets. Trump's answer was no. Speaking to Reporter Saturday, the president said he had rejected the deal and argued that Iran was coming forward because its economy was being squeezed. His position, at least publicly, is that Tehran needs an agreement more urgently than Washington does. As we've been reporting here on the PDB, the U.S. blockade on Tehran is likely to be a major threat to the U.S. economy. The U.S. blockade has sharply restricted Iran's ability to move oil and generate revenue. Sanctions are adding to the pressure. Inflation is running at extraordinary levels. The Iranian currency has fallen sharply, fuel prices have climbed, and the country's broader economy has been deteriorating. So from the administration's perspective, the pressure campaign appears to be doing exactly what it was designed to do: make the cost of continuing this war increasingly difficult for Tehran to absorb. That helps explain why Trump and Tehran are struggling. Trump may see no reason to lift the blockade simply because Iran has offered to reopen the Strait. And there's another factor here. Washington has spent months trying to reduce the leverage that Iran gained by choking traffic through the Strait. The U.S. and its partners have managed to keep some shipping moving despite Iranian threats, which means the pressure for Washington to strike a deal may not be what it was earlier in the conflict. The Wall Street Journal reports that President Trump has privately told Tehran that the U.S. aides, he believes that renewed U.S. bombing of Iran is likely after the November midterm elections. Now, that doesn't mean that a decision has been made. The same reporting says that Trump remains reluctant to launch another major combat operation, in part because Washington wants to conserve munitions for other possible contingencies. And at the same time, talks are reportedly still continuing through mediators. So, what we're saying is not necessarily Trump abandoning diplomacy. It looks more like an effort to keep all three options open at once, keep negotiating in some fashion, maintain the economic squeeze, and preserve the threat of another military campaign if Iran refuses Washington's terms. The other question, and one we've raised here before on the PDB, is who exactly has the authority in Tehran to make those terms for a deal? Iranian President Mossadegh said, says his government is ready to negotiate. But is he in charge? Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been carrying proposals to mediators and arguing publicly that diplomacy is the way out. But does Araghchi have any juice in that new regime? But Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, has taken on an increasingly powerful role since this war began. And the IRGC is sending a very different message. According to the Journal, Iranian diplomats have acknowledged the crisis of the Iran-Iraq war, and the Iran-Iraq war is a very different message. The country's deepening economic problems and presented several proposals for ending the war. But the IRGC has said it's prepared for a long conflict and is resisting new formulas for an agreement. Not to mention, of course, the issue of Mushtab al-Khamenei, the Claude Rains of Ayatollahs, neither seen nor heard from since being named the new supreme leader. That leaves a basic question unanswered, of course. When Iran's diplomats put an offer on the table, does it mean anything? If those diplomats aren't actually in charge. And that uncertainty complicates Washington's calculation. The administration may believe that enough economic pressure will eventually force the regime to accept more favorable terms. But if different factions inside the Iranian leadership have different ideas about how much pain the country should absorb or what concessions Iran can make, then squeezing harder does not automatically produce an agreement. But for now, Trump seems willing to maintain the pressure. All right, coming up next, arrests near the British airbase used by the U.S. for strikes on Iran. And President Trump pushes Presidents Putin and Zelensky to sit down and make a deal, while Russia and Ukraine continue their long-range bombing campaigns. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, we have all heard those radio ads about the IRS, you know, the ones I'm talking about. 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That's a key airbase American bombers have been using in the war against Iran. Now, five men were reportedly arrested early Sunday on suspicion of explosives offenses after police received reports of three suspicious vehicles near the base. Authorities evacuated dozens of nearby homes, established a security cordon, and brought in an army explosive ordnance team to examine the vehicles. Footage from the scene showed three white vans near the base with a bomb disposal robot moving around them. Armed police blocked roads into the area. Helicopters were overhead and roughly 30 emergency vehicles reportedly responded. Police say the immediate situation appears to be contained, but counterterrorism investigators are now trying to determine exactly what the men were doing there, what was inside those vans, and whether the airbase was actually their intended target. RAF Fairford is one of the most important American bomber, facilities in Europe. It serves as a forward operating base for U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command, allowing American long-range bombers to deploy much closer to potential targets, and particularly in the Middle East. During the war with Iran, Britain authorized the U.S. to use Fairford for strikes against Iranian missile sites, including targets connected to attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. American B-1 bombers have operated from the base, and a B-1 was sitting on the flight line. The B-1 bomber was a B-1 bomber, and the B-1 bomber was a B-1 bomber. Iran has also specifically threatened bases like RAF Fairford. Back in July, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, warned that any foreign base used to launch attacks against Iranian territory could be considered a legitimate target. Britain responded at the time by saying its armed forces were prepared to defend the country against threats at home or abroad. So investigators are going to be looking very closely, of course, at whether they're any connection between Sunday's arrest and the broader threat environment. But at this point, well, there's no public evidence tying these men to Iran. Their identities and nationalities have not been released yet. Police have not said whether they've found a functioning explosive device or devices, and they've not confirmed that RAF Fairford itself was the intended target, and they have not publicly identified a motive. So, as you can see, it's early days in the investigation. British reporting says investigators are examining materials seized after the arrests to determine whether they were dangerous and capable of being used in an attack. Security sources also say authorities are considering the possibility of foreign state involvement, including Iran, while keeping other possibilities on the table. Security around Fairford had apparently already been tightened before Sunday's incident. Residents told reporters that heavy vehicles had been placed across access points in recent weeks, and security has reportedly also been increased at other bases used by the U.S. in the U.K. including Lake and Heath and Mildenhall. Officials haven't said those measures were connected to any specific intelligence about Sunday's suspects. They may just simply reflect the broader security environment surrounding American military facilities since the Iran war began. Now, I want to switch the focus to the Ukraine conflict. President Trump said Saturday that he wants Presidents Zelensky and Putin to make a deal, telling reporters he hopes the two leaders can reach some kind of settlement before the winter starts. But there is very little sign of de-escalation right now. Russian attacks killed four people across Ukraine on Saturday, according to Ukrainian officials, as Moscow continued its campaign of drone and missile strikes well beyond the front lines. Strikes also hit Kiev and the surrounding region, injuring civilians and damaging homes, offices, and other buildings. Russia's defense ministry claims one of its strikes in Kiev damaged a data center supporting mobile internet services and Starlink communications. Now, we've not seen a dependent confirmation of that claim, but if accurate, it would fit Moscow's broader effort to disrupt the communications and infrastructure that Ukraine relies on militarily and economically. Ukraine, meanwhile, continues taking the fight deep into Russia. Kiev says its long-range drones struck a significant refinery in the southern Krasnodar region. Russian officials acknowledged drone attacks there, saying three people were killed and fires broke out at 2:00 and 2:00 a.m. on Saturday, according to Russian officials. Russia's defense ministry said the drone attack hit two industrial sites, although they did not provide details on exactly what was hit. Ukraine has spent months systematically targeting Russian refineries, oil depots, and other energy infrastructure. Just last weekend, a Ukrainian drone attack forced Moscow's major oil refinery to halt crude processing, according to industry sources cited by Reuters, with repairs expected to take several weeks. For Kiev, these attacks provide one of the few ways to impose significant costs on Russia and the Russian government. Russia's defense ministry said Russia's defense ministry said Russia's defense ministry had already put pressure on Ukraine and the Russian economy by bringing Russia far beyond the front. They forced Moscow to defend facilities hundreds of miles from Ukraine, disrupt fuel production, and put additional pressure on an economy already carrying the enormous cost of more than four years of Putin's war. But there is a complication here for Zelensky. Trump has been pressing Ukraine to scale back its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure as disruptions to Russian fuel production add more pressure to already tight global energy markets. Zelensky has indicated that Russia's defense ministry has been pushing Ukraine to scale back its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure as disruptions to Russian fuel production add more pressure to already tight global energy markets. Zelensky has indicated that Russia's defense ministry has been pressing Ukraine to scale back its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure as disruptions to Russian fuel production add more pressure to already tight global energy markets. Zelensky has indicated that Ukraine could consider stopping those attacks, but only as part of a reciprocal arrangement in which Russia stops hitting Ukrainian energy infrastructure as well. And so far Moscow, no surprise, has shown little interest in that kind of pause. That becomes more important as winter approaches. Ukraine is already preparing for another Russian campaign against its power grid and heating systems and has been asking Washington for additional Patriot air defense systems to help protect critical infrastructure. So, when Trump says he wants Zelensky and Putin to settle, the question is what does each side believe that it still has to gain before sitting down? Ukraine views its refinery campaign as leverage. Russia believes that continued drone and missile attacks can increase pressure on Kyiv and further strain Ukraine's infrastructure, setting up the population of course for another difficult winter. And Putin has yet to show any inclination to back off from his long-held maximalist demands. And that leaves Washington trying to move both governments toward negotiations at the same time that both governments appear convinced they can still improve their position through force. And in today's Back of the Brief, thousands remain missing in Nepal one month after that catastrophic flooding. More on that when we come back. Now, in addition to being the host of the President's Daily Brief, I am also a business owner. Have been for years. So, let me ask you a question, particularly for all you business owners out there. Think about the last time that you called a business, some company, and nobody picked up the phone. So what did you do? Well, likely, you called one of their competitors, right? And that's why today's episode is brought to you by Kuo. That's Q-U-O, the business phone system built so you never miss a call. Kuo brings calls and texts and voicemails into one organized place for fast, efficient response. Setup takes minutes on any device with zero IT hassle. Kuo's built-in AI agent even handles after-hour calls and books appointments so leads never slip away. Plus, it integrates with tools like HubSpot and Zapier. 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That includes more than 5,600 people still unaccounted for, with some believed to be trapped inside tunnels at six hydropower projects that were in the flood zone. Thousands of families have lost homes, relatives, and livelihoods, and Nepal's government says recovery and reconstruction could cost more than $4.7 billion. Now, because it's been more than a month ago, it's worth taking a moment just to remember how the disaster unfolded. On the morning of August 26th, an enormous section of bedrock and glacial ice broke away high in the Himalayas, sending a massive wall of rock and ice plunging roughly 4,000 feet into the valley below. The impact was so powerful, it generated seismic energy equal to a magnitude 5.2 earthquake, initially confusing regional sensors. The deadly debris first dammed a river and created a barrier lake. When that barrier gave way, another surge of deadly water, rock and debris rushed downstream. Now one month later, Nepal is still very much in the middle of this disaster. The country is still trying to determine how many people it actually lost. The country's disaster management agency says only some 1,450 bodies have been recovered. Only 112 have been returned to relatives. More than 1,300 others have been temporarily buried, while authorities try to identify them, and that identification process has now become an international effort. At a police hospital near the affected area, relatives are providing DNA samples in tents set up outside the facility. Those samples are being compared with DNA collected from recovered remains, with experts from India, China, the U.S., Singapore, and South Korea helping with the work. A Nepalese roads engineer told the Associated Press that crews have been working with the country's Army since the second day after the floods to reopen access to affected areas. She says bridges are being built to help move relief supplies into the hardest-hit communities. But even that work is difficult because of the ongoing monsoon season. And this is the disaster that Nepal's Prime Minister brought to the United Nations just last week, using his first address to the General Assembly to call for greater international assistance and stronger regional cooperation, particularly amid the growing risk of glacial temperatures and extreme weather. And that, my friends, is The President's Daily Brief for Monday, the 28th of September. If you have any questions or comments, please just reach out to me at [email protected]. thefirsttv.com. And I hope you had a chance to catch this past weekend's PDB Situation Report. That, of course, is our much-loved extended weekend show. If not, you can always catch it in past episodes on our YouTube channel. Just wander on over to YouTube, it's that easy, and search up At President's Daily Brief. Or you can also catch it wherever you get your podcast stuff. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin.