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The President's Daily Brief
September 29th, 2025: Mystery Drone Swarms Spark Chaos Across Europe & Iran Sanctions Snap Back
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The Iranian regime apparently isn't happy about the renewed sanctions, recalling ambassadors and threatening retaliation. Plus, unrest in Portland has prompted President Trump to order the deployment of troops to the although the Democrat leaders of the city and state are pushing back, saying they don't think they've got a problem. And in today's Back of the Brief, a familiar name returns to the world stage as former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, remember him, is reportedly in talks to lead a transitional authority in Gaza. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. It was a tense weekend across Europe with unidentified drones causing havoc in at least seven different nations around the continent. Airports, military bases and even a hydroelectric power plant, all targeted by what some leaders are calling hybrid attacks. First in Denmark, where drones appeared over the corrupt air base, the nation's largest military installation, housing the armed forces, helicopters, airspace surveillance and parts of the Danish Defense Command. Prime Minister Mete Fredriksen didn't mince words, calling the incidents hybrid attacks. Denmark's justice minister went even further, saying the goal was clear to spread fear, divide the population and frighten the public. And Denmark wasn't alone this weekend. Oslo Airport in Norway was forced to halt operations as well for several hours after unidentified drones were spotted in its airspace. In Lithuania, three drones disrupted seven flights in and out of Vilnius. And it wasn't just military installations and airports. Also, civilian energy facilities were targeted. In Finland, a drone flew directly over a major hydroelectric power plant, a designated no fly zone because of the obvious risks to critical infrastructure pressure. Sweden reported its own drone incursions near Karlskrona, home to the country's main naval base. Witnesses described drones with flashing red and green lights flying low over the base, the same pattern seen in Denmark and elsewhere. Police have opened a case, but none of the drones have been recovered. Meanwhile, in Germany, authorities confirmed drone sightings in Schleswig Holstein, the northern state that borders Denmark. The German interior minister warned that the drone threat is high, calling for changes in law that would allow the military to shoot down hostile drones. And finally, in France, drones are spotted over the Mourilon Le grand military camp. That sounds actually a lot better if I'm smoking a galois when I say it. Home to the 501st Tank Regiment and a key training site for Ukrainian soldiers. The French military has not disclosed details about the drone's origin or flight patterns, but an investigation into the breach is underway. Across the map, the pattern was the same. Mysterious Unauthorized flights over sensitive sites, military bases, airports, energy infrastructure, and in every case, the same unanswered questions. Where are they coming from? Who's controlling them? And what exactly is their purpose? Now, NATO officials say they strongly suspect Russia is behind these mysterious drones, though Moscow denies it. There's a surprise, calling the accusations a staged provocation. But European leaders are treating the incursions as a coordinated campaign. The French, Danish, and Lithuanian governments all describe them as hybrid warfare. Low level, deniable acts of aggression meant to probe defenses, disrupt civilian life, and test how quickly NATO will respond. For context, NATO has already stepped up its Baltic sentry mission, deploying surveillance aircraft, naval drones, and even an air defense frigate to the region. In addition, a new eastern sentry mission is also underway to guard against further Russian drone incursions into Poland. And within the European Union, 10 defense ministers have agreed to build what they're calling a drone wall stretching across the continent's eastern flank. The idea is to integrate detection and neutralization systems from Scandinavia down to the Black Sea, Essentially a continent wide counter UAS shield. But the problem right now is that Europe is playing catch up. As one Danish official put it, what we're witnessing is an arms race. Drones versus anti drone defenses. And the threat is evolving faster than governments can respond. The strategic purpose appears to be clear. By sending swarms of drones over airports and bases, the suspected adversary is forcing Europe to choose between two bad Shoot them down and risk escalation, or let them fly and risk looking weak. Either way, chaos tends to spread. Flights get canceled, power plants get rattled, and public concern grows. Hybrid warfare isn't about outright destruction. It's about eroding confidence, sowing doubt, and leaving your adversary constantly on edge and across Europe this weekend. Well, it appears to have worked. All right. Coming up next, UN Sanctions snap back on Iran and President Trump orders National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, looking to emul the crime fighting effort that was implemented in Washington, D.C. i'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. I want to take just a moment of your time to talk about my favorite purveyor of steaks and beef. And that of course, would be the great Tritails Beef. Now, as I'm sure you're aware, it is back to school season. You know what that means? It means the usual chaos around the house, constant shuttling of kids to school and sports events and regular disagreements over what's for dinner when parents and kids are all running in different directions. 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Welcome back to the pdb. The much anticipated return of UN Sanctions on Iran arrives Sunday as European powers pulled the snapback trigger, restoring harsh penalties as the 2015 nuclear deal collapses and patience with the mullahs runs dry. The move at the Security Council led by Britain, France and Germany came after years of the Iranian regime stonewalling inspectors and openly thumbing its nose at the decade old nuclear accord. European diplomats said the decision reflected a growing recognition that Iran never intended to abide by the deal's commitments. That didn't take them long to figure out, instead using the deal as a cover to push its nuclear and missile programs forward. The sanctions, as we've covered here on the pdb, are sweeping militarily. They reimpose a broad arms embargo, ban uranium enrichment and processing and curb ballistic missile development politically and Financially, they slap travel bans on dozens of regime officials, freeze assets tied to insiders and entities, and block any supply lines feeding Tehran's nuclear drive. Together, they cut straight to the core of Iran's military and economic lifelines. These measures revived Security Council resolutions first adopted between 2006 and 2010, effectively dismantling the remnants of that Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the jcpoa, once signed by Iran, the Europeans, Washington, Russia and China. As our regular PDB listeners will recall, Western diplomats had offered Tehran a six month off ramp to restore international inspector access and scale back in Richmond. Instead, the Islamic regime doubled down, stockpiling uranium and hardening its nuclear sites. And the snapback mechanism wasn't without drama. In an 11th hour effort, Iran's allies Russia and China tried to buy the regime more time, floating up a proposal to delay the snapback sanctions until April. But it failed to win traction at the Security Council, triggering the sanctions. Moscow's top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, blasted the snapback trigger as unlawful and this is from the country that invaded Ukraine and has been waging war for the past three years. But the optics told a different story. With Europe, Washington and much of the west aligned, Iran's listed defenders only underscored the mullah's growing isolation. Still, European leaders were careful to stress that diplomacy isn't completely dead. In a joint statement, Britain, France and Germany insisted the sanctions were, quote, not the end of diplomacy and urged Iran to, quote, return to compliance, according to EU foreign policy chief Kayakalas. She vowed enforcement of the snapback mechanism would begin, quote, without delay. In Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the snapback, stressing that President Trump has made clear that sanctions must be enforced, quote, immediately, though he noted the US Would engage in talks if Tehran negotiates in good faith. Inside the Islamic regime, leaders struck a predictably defiant tone. President Masoud Bezechkian said Iran would remain a member of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, brushing off claims that the regime seeks nuclear weapons even as Tehran's enrichment levels have long exceeded civilian thresholds. Iran's Foreign Ministry ridiculed the snapback as legally baseless and unjustifiable, dismissing Western coverage as an invented monster to frighten the Iranian people. Foreign Minister Abbas Arachi likewise tried to downplay the sanctions as exaggerated threats meant to extract concessions. But the regime's bluster collides with economic reality. The Iranian currency, the rial, slid to a record low over the weekend, hammered by the combined weight of the new UN penalties and existing US sanctions that date back to Trump's 2018 exit from that JCPOA deal. Meanwhile, Iran's parliamentary speaker threatened, quote, serious reciprocal action against Britain, France and Germany. But the reality is Tehran's retaliatory toolbox looks increasingly bare given its depleted missile supply, limited economic leverage and the still unknown state of its nuclear sites. Okay, turning to the U.S. president Trump announced that he plans to send troops to Portland, Oregon, intensifying his administration's crackdown on crime in a city that he's long branded as lawless. The president said over the weekend that he directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to, quote, provide all necessary troops to secure federal facilities and restore order, warning the mission will have authority to use, quote, full force if necessary. In a post to Truth Social, Trump went even further, describing Portland as, quote, war ravaged and claiming immigration enforcement sites were under siege by antifa and, quote, other domestic terrorists. Trump's fixation on Portland is nothing new. For years, the president has used the city as a prime example of what he calls Democratic mismanagement. Just last week, he told reporters in the Oval Office that, quote, people die out there. It's amazing anybody lives there. Trump has repeatedly branded the city a, quote, anarchist jurisdiction, vowing to continue to make law and order a centerpiece of his second term by cleaning up the west coast city. And the numbers do tell the story. Portland's violent crime rate sits at 720 incidents per 100,000 residents, far above the national average, while its property crime rate ranks second among major U.S. cities at 30 per 100 residents, only behind Memphis. That's another city that Trump has authorized federal troop deployment for this year. Portland is on pace to match 2024's highs in both violence and theft. Pentagon officials admit they were blindsided by Trump's announcement. They had no immediate clarity on whether National Guard or active duty troops would be used. Still, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stressed readiness, saying that the Department of War would, quote, stand ready to mobilize US Military personnel and support DHS operations in Portland at the president's direction. Oregon Democrats unsurprisingly, lashed out. Governor Tina Kotek called the looming deployment, quote, inconceivable and dismissed Trump's description of the city as war ravaged. Kotak said she told the president directly there was no insurrection in Portland. Trump's reply reportedly was, quote, well, let's keep talking. Kotak added that she's exploring legal options with the state attorney general to resist Trump's order. Portland's mayor warned a troop presence would, quote, harm commerce and prosperity, then pledged to sign a joint statement with regional mayors to announce what he labeled and occupation. Now, as an aside, I travel to Portland fairly regularly for business. I had family there as well. And the truth is that what's harmed commerce and prosperity in that once great city is the crime. No consequences for bad behavior, homelessness and poor city management. That's what has hurt Portland's commerce and prosperity. For Trump, Portland is another battlefront in his wider crackdown on crime. In Washington, D.C. a surge of federal law enforcement drew rare bipartisan credit for reducing crime in Memphis. Republican Governor Bill Lee welcomed the deployment, which is set to begin this week. So with Portland's crime rate among the worst in the nation, Trump is once again betting that federal troops on the street will spotlight Democratic failure on public safety and bolster his message that law and order can only be restored through stronger federal action. Well, that of course, and also city management that understands that their primary responsibility is ensuring the safety of their residents. All right, coming up next in today's Back of the Brief, Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, remember him, is being discussed as the possible head of a post war governing authority in Gaza. More on that when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me ask you a question about protecting your hard earned assets. Now, when you hear about inflation worries or when you see that the national debt in the US is over $37 trillion, or you just look around and see all the global uncertainty, do you ever think to yourself maybe now would be a good time to buy some gold? 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In today's Back of the Brief, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has reemerged on the world stage, this time as the front runner to lead a post war transitional authority in Gaza. That's an idea reportedly carrying the White House's blessing. According to reports in the Economist and Israeli media, Blair is being floated to lead what's dubbed the Gaza International Transitional Authority. That's a mouthful. It's a UN mandated body backed by Gulf states that would serve as Gaza's supreme political and legal authority for up to five years before handing the reins to the Palestinians. The design borrows from precedent modeled on UN backed administrations in East Timor and Kosovo. The authority would first operate out of Egypt and then move into Gaza alongside a multinational force once conditions in the enclave stabilize. Blair's office acknowledged his role in discussions, but stressed he would not support any plan that displaced Palestinians. Back in August, Blair joined a White House session with President Trump to hash out Gaza's future, a meeting US Middle east envoy Steve Witkoff later praised as very comprehensive, though he declined to further elaborate. The proposal arrives amid a crowded field of competing ideas for the enclave. Back in February, Trump toyed with the idea of a long term US ownership of Gaza and an idea to recast the Strip into the, quote, Riviera of the Middle East. By March, Arab states countered with a reconstruction plan led by independent Palestinian experts, warmly received by Hamas. That's always a problem, and the Palestinian Authority, but flatly rejected by Washington and Jerusalem. Then in July came the New York Declaration, a France Saudi initiative endorsed by a majority of the UN General assembly, calling for a transitional committee under the Palestinian Authority's umbrella. So many competing ideas. But layered over these initiatives is Washington's latest blueprint. Just last week at the UN General Assembly, Trump and Witkoff unveiled the 21 point framework, hailed by Arab leaders as the most serious US peace push to date. The plan outlines principles for ending the war, but left open the question of interim governance, making Blair's potential appointment one piece of a still complex puzzle. For Blair, this wouldn't be unchartered territory. After leaving office in 2007, he served on the Quartet of International Powers, the US EU, Russia and the UN where he focused on Palestinian economic development as part of a broader two state solution effort. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily brief for Monday 29th September. If you have any questions or comments, and I hope you do, please reach out to me at pdb@the first tv.com and I hope you had the chance to catch our latest episode of the PDB Situation Report this weekend. Our guests included retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commanding officer of U S Army Europe, and Art Arthur from the center for Immigration Studies. We covered a lot of turf. Now you can catch that and past episodes on our YouTube channel at President's Daily Brief and of course podcast platforms everywhere. Finally, if you love the PDB and honestly, how could you not consider becoming a Premium member, you'll get every episode ad free. Just visit PDB premium.com I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Sam.