May 18th, 2026: U.S. Intel: Cuba Planning Drone Attacks On U.S. Territory & Iran Seizes Chinese Ship in Hormuz

The President's Daily Brief

The First TV

News, Politics

4.7 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2026

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of The President’s Daily Brief: U.S. officials are sounding the alarm over a potential new drone threat emerging just 90 miles off America’s southern coast, after intelligence reports revealed Cuba has reportedly been stockpiling military drones supplied by Russia and Iran. Iranian forces have reportedly boarded and seized a Chinese-operated vessel described as a “floating armoury” in the Gulf of Oman, raising fresh questions about maritime security in the region following the recent conflict in the Strait of Hormuz. Federal prosecutors have charged a senior Iraqi militia figure tied to Iran with allegedly plotting attacks on Jewish sites in major U.S. cities, including New York and Los Angeles. And in today’s Back of the Brief—after President Trump’s trip to Beijing, White House staffers and reporters aboard Air Force One were reportedly ordered to throw away Chinese-issued gifts, badges, pins, and burner phones over ongoing espionage and surveillance concerns. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting https://PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President’s Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Acre Gold: Turn your pocket change into physical 24-karat gold and enter to win a limited-edition Hot Wheels gold bar at https://GetAcreGold.com/PDB Hexclad: Find your forever cookware @hexclad and get 10% off at https://hexclad.com/PDB ! #hexcladpartner #sponsored Chapter: Compare every medicare plan call 915-671-5252 today! Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don't directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact https://Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:21.8	com.uk slash podcast to learn more. It's Monday to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker,
0:41.2	your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First, U.S. officials are
0:48.1	sounding the alarm over a potential new drone threat emerging just off America's southern coast. After intelligence reports,
0:56.5	revealed that Cuba has been stockpiling military drones supplied by Russia and Iran. Later in the show,
1:03.5	in a strange development in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian forces have reportedly boarded
1:08.7	and seized a Chinese-operated vessel, described as a, quote,
1:12.9	floating armory. Plus, federal prosecutors have charged a senior Iraqi militia figure tied to Iran
1:19.6	with allegedly plotting attacks on Jewish sites in major U.S. cities, including New York City
1:25.4	and Los Angeles. And in today's back of the brief,
1:29.1	after President Trump's trip to Beijing, White House staffers and reporters aboard Air Force One
1:34.4	were reportedly ordered to throw away Chinese-issued gifts, pins, badges, and burner phones
1:40.4	over espionage concerns. But first, today's PDB spotlight. New intelligence reporting is
1:47.9	raising new concerns inside Washington about what U.S. officials say is a growing military threat
1:53.7	emerging just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. According to classified intelligence first
1:59.0	shared with Axios, Cuba has quietly acquired more than 300
2:03.3	military drones over the past several years, and Cuban officials have reportedly discussed
2:08.4	potential plans to use those drones against targets, including Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military
	...

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