The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | April 2nd, 2026: Inside The Pentagon Plan That Could Change The Iran War & Artemis II Takes Off

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: First up—a new Pentagon plan presented to President Trump could put American troops on the ground inside Iran to seize its uranium stockpile, in what could become one of the most complex and risky military operations ever attempted. Later in the show—NASA launches Artemis II, sending astronauts on a historic deep space mission that will travel farther than any crew in modern history. 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 Ethos Life Insurance: Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at: https://ethos.com/PDB Superpower: Stop guessing about your health—get $20 off Superpower at https://superpower.com/pdb with code PDB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, in the category of keeping all options on the table, a new plan presented to President Trump could put American troops on the ground inside Iran to recover its enriched uranium stockpile. But the logistics alone could turn this into one of the most complex missions ever attempted.

Ah, but not so fast. In the category of mixed messages, President Trump implied in his address to the nation last night, that he's not interested in an operation to recover that uranium. I'll have the details. Later in the show, NASA takes its next leap for mankind, launching Artemis 2 on a mission that will send astronauts farther than any crew in the history of spaceflight. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Well, it looks like the war in Iran is going to continue, at least for a little while longer. During an address to the nation last night, and President Trump said the U.S. is now, quote, on track to complete its objectives, but warned the next two to three weeks

could bring even more intense strikes if a deal with the Iranian regime isn't reached. He described Iran's military as largely dismantled while signaling that the mission is entering its final phase. But behind the scenes, the Pentagon continues to prepare for a variety of options. New reporting from the Washington Post reveals just how far those options go and how risky they could be. According to the report, the U.S. military has presented the president with a plan to send American ground forces into Iran to seize its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Now, this proposal came at Trump's request. He asked for the option. The Pentagon delivered. But to be clear, no decision has been made. And in fact, Trump walked back that option during his speech yesterday and in subsequent comments, implying that he wasn't worried about recovering the reportedly deeply buried enriched uranium. He noted that the U.S. will be always watching via satellites and can act if they see that the regime is attempting to recover it from underneath the mountain of rubble that it supposedly sits under. But let's take a look at the Pentagon's planning, because in this conflict, circumstances, decisions, and ground truth seem to change hourly. The target is roughly 1,000 pounds of uranium and rich to about 60%, just shy of weapons grade.

Most of that material is believed to be stored deep underground near His Fon, with additional stockpiles at the Natanz nuclear facility and potentially other sites. And when we say underground, well, what we mean is some of these materials are buried more than 300 feet below the surface inside reinforced tunnel complexes. What the Pentagon has been drawing up as an option is potentially one of the most ambitious special operations missions ever attempted. The operation would likely begin with a broad suppression campaign. Allied forces targeting Iranian air defenses, well, those that still exist, missile systems and nearby military units to create a window for insertion. And then comes the ground phase. Airborne troops, possibly elements of the 82nd airborne, would be inserted deep inside Iranian territory. Their first job would be to secure the area and establish a defensive perimeter around the nuclear sites.

And then the mission begins. Engineers would be brought in along with heavy excavation equipment, bulldozers drilling rigs, the kind of gear that you'd expect on a major construction site, not a battlefield. In some scenarios, they would even need to build a temporary runway to allow cargo aircraft to land and take off. From there, teams would begin the slow methodical process of digging down into the facility, cutting through concrete, rock, and protective shielding to reach the uranium. Special operations units would move underground, working in protective gear, using sensors to detect radiation and navigating an environment filled with unknowns. There could be booby traps, it could be decoys, and every move carries risk,

not just from the enemy, but from the material itself. The uranium is stored in sealed cylinders, relatively small but, of course, highly hazardous. Damaging them could create contamination risks, adding another layer of complexity to the mission. And all of this would be happening, of course, while U.S. forces are operating deep inside hostile territory. It's not a mission measured in minutes or hours, like the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Experts say this could take weeks, possibly longer. It would require constant resupply of food, water, fuel, and equipment. Mechanics, engineers, and nuclear specialists from the Department of Energy would likely be on the ground.

At that point, well, at that point, what you're really looking at is something closer to a temporary occupation rather than a traditional special operations rate. It would be one of the most complex and dangerous missions that the U.S. military has ever attempted, and casualties would be likely, and the margin for error, of course, would be thin. But it also speaks to the stakes. The administration has made clear that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remains a top priority. Air strikes can damage facilities, but they don't necessarily eliminate the material itself. This option aims to do exactly that, remove it from the board entirely. still the political and strategic implications are enormous. And again, it's important to emphasize that this is just one option on the table, a plan

presented to the president to give him flexibility, and one that, well, at least for now, Trump has indicated, maybe off the table. All right, coming up next, Artemis II lifts off as NASA sends astronauts on a mission that puts humans further into space than ever before. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, whether you're in a one or a two-income household, if you're a breadwinner, well, you're carrying a lot of responsibility. You know what I'm talking about, right? Mortgage payments, tuition, everyday bills that don't just disappear should something happen to you or your partner.

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Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin. For the first time in more than half a century, astronauts are on their way around the moon. Isn't it nice to be talking about something other than a conflict in the world? If you were along Florida's space coast around 6.35 p.m. yesterday, you likely heard and saw NASA's Artemis 2 mission left off from Kennedy Space Center with crowds lining the sunshine state's beaches, watching as the rocket lit up the sky and pushed east over the Atlantic. On board four astronauts beginning a 10-day journey that will carry them around the far side of the moon, farther from Earth than any humans have ever traveled.

The last time we saw anything like this was back in 1972 when Apollo 17 set the final crew of the Apollo era toward the lunar surface. Artemis 2 is designed to test the systems that will carry astronauts back to the moon. That means putting NASA's Orion spacecraft through a full shakedown flight, sending the crew out, looping them around the far side of the moon and bringing them home safely. There will be no lunar landing or orbit, just a critical proof of concept that the U.S. can once again carry humans beyond low-earth orbit and sustain that capability. After reaching an initial low-earth orbit just after launch, Artemis 2 traveled at roughly 17,500 miles per hour, circling the Earth before the interim cryogenic propulsion stage or the ICPS,

because how could NASA not love acronyms? The ICPS is what pushes a spacecraft into a higher orbit. Then the crew makes the key move. They jettison the ICPS and execute what's known as a trans-luner injection. Yes, that's the first time I've ever used that phrase. A maneuver that breaks free from Earth's gravitational pull, accelerating the spacecraft to around 24,500 miles per hour, or 11 miles every second, and sending it on trajectory toward the moon.

At its farthest point, Artemis II will carry its crew about 4,000, 700 miles beyond the moon, easily surpassing the previous record set during Apollo 13, which reached just 158 miles past the lunar surface. Inside the spacecraft, you're also seeing just how much technology has evolved since the Apollo era. Orion is larger, offering about 50% more habitable volume with more windows and computing systems that process data tens of thousands of times faster with dramatically more onboard memory. Having said that, the interior space of the capsule is roughly the size of two minivans, or one expensive New York City walk-up apartment. So while the mission echoes Apollo on its trajectory, the onboard capabilities are in a

completely different league. Now, let's talk about the crew. Commander Reed Wiseman, former U.S. Navy pilot and test pilot is leading the mission, alongside pilot Victor Glover. He'll become the first black astronaut to orbit the moon. Christina Koch, who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 328 days, is set to become the first woman to make the journey. And Jeremy Hanson, representing the Canadian Space Agency, will be the first non-American and the only rookie on board. But if you step back for a moment, this mission is really about what comes next.

Because Artemis II is not the end goal, it's the gateway. What NASA is trying to prove here is that it can reliably send humans deep into space and bring them back, setting the stage for Artemis 3 and missions that will follow. Those future flights are expected to land astronauts on the lunar surface and begin building a sustained presence, particularly near the moon's south pole. That shift from short visits to long-term presence is critical. During the Apollo era, missions were brief, what NASA described as, quote, flags and footprints. This time, the objective is permanence. The South Pole in particular is believed to contain significant deposits of ice that could be converted into drinking water and breathable oxygen and even rocket fuel,

resources that could support long-term operations and future missions deeper into space. Artemis II also carries scientific objectives. The crew will practice lunar observation techniques rehearsing how future astronauts will study the moon's surface from orbit and from the ground. At the same time, there's a competitive backdrop that is hard to ignore. China has made it clear it intense to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 to exploit resources and establish scientific leadership, setting up a new kind of space race. But unlike the Cold War, the U.S. is not doing it alone this time. The Artemis program includes partnerships with 60 countries through what's called the Artemis Accords,

in which participating nations contribute funding, technology, and personnel to support long-term lunar exploration. Now, I know I look far younger than my actual age, but I'm old enough to remember staying up late into the evening to watch the Apollo moonshots. There was an enormous sense of pride, even as a young kid you felt it, and amazement at the fact that we were building rocket ships and blasting off into space. I still have my one-page-page essay written when I was eight years old, stating with the confidence of a kid who knows almost nothing about life, that I would become an astronaut. Now, clearly, that didn't happen. I can barely spell astronaut. But watching Artemis II lift off yesterday, I felt that same pride and amazement from all

those years ago. Godspeed to the crew, and congratulations to the thousands of brilliant and hardworking people who made it all possible. And that, my friends, is the PDB. afternoon bulletin for Thursday the 2nd of April. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And to listen to the show ad-free, just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com.

I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Not loving your AT&T or T Mobile Bill? Yeah, we've been hearing that a lot. Good news. Bring your AT&T or T Mobile Bill to Verizon and we'll give you a better deal.

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