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

Mike Baker (0:12)

It's Monday, the 28th of September. Welcome to The President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. And yes, still on the road. And well, yes, I'm still recovering from the weekend's painful, old-miss loss to Florida. But to be fair, to give them credit, Florida played a very fine game. As they say, hotty toddy. All right, let's get briefed. First up, President Trump shuts down Iran's latest peace proposal, rejecting a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as US 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 US to strike targets in Iran. Plus, President Trump presses Zelenskyy and Putin to make a deal as Russia and Ukraine intensify their long-range strikes, hitting cities and infrastructure and oil facilities far from the front.

And in today's Back of the Brief, we revisit a tragic event that has mostly disappeared from the headlines. An update on the deadly floods in Nepal, where thousands remain missing a month after the disaster.

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 re-opening the Strait of Hormuz and beginning broader negotiations that could, possibly, sometime, include its nuclear program. In return, the regime wanted the US 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 BDB, the US 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 may see no reason to lift the blockade simply because Iran is 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 US 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 aides he believes that renewed US 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 Masoud Pazeshkian says his government is ready to negotiate, but is he in charge? Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has been carrying proposals to mediators and arguing publicly that diplomacy is the way out, but does Araqchi 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 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 Mushtabu Khamenei, the quad reins of Ayatollah's, 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.