PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 11th, 2026: Chaos In The Strait Of Hormuz & Moscow’s Advice To Iran

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It's Wednesday, the 11th of March, welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin.

I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage.

Alright, let's get briefed.

First up, the Strait of Hormuz is turning into a war zone.

Several cargo ships are struck by projectiles, as Iran ramps up attacks on commercial

shipping in the narrow waterway.

Later in the show, new reporting raises fresh questions about Russia's role in the

conflict as intelligence sources say Moscow may be advising Iran on drone tactics.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

The Strait of Hormuz is rapidly becoming one of the most impactful flashpoints in the

war with Iran.

And today, the chaos in that narrow stretch of water escalated yet again.

According to maritime authorities, at least three commercial vessels were struck by projectiles

near the Strait on Wednesday.

One bulk carrier was hit roughly 50 nautical miles northwest of Dubai.

Another cargo ship caught fire after being struck near Oman's Musindam Peninsula, forcing

the crew to abandon the vessel.

At a third cargo ship, reported damage off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

The total maritime officials now say 13 vessels have been attacked in the Persian Gulf

region since the current round of fighting began on the 28th of February.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, has already claimed responsibility

for today's attacks.

Oh, well, nice of them to clear that up.

According to a Roddy and State link medium, the IRGC says it fired on a Thai flagged bulk

carrier, called the Mayuri Neri, and a Liberian flagged vessel named and express Rome.

The ships allegedly ignored warning some Iranian naval forces.

Now the message from Tehran is becoming increasingly clear.

Iran intends to turn the Strait of Hormuz into a battlefield.

Now we already know how critical this strait is for global energy trade, and what's worth

focusing on today is the geography, because the geography is what makes the waterway so

vulnerable.

At its narrowest point, the Strait of Hormuz is only about 21 miles across, but the actual

shipping lanes used by tankers, well, they're far smaller, just a couple of miles wide

in each direction, separated by a narrow buffer zone.

That means hundreds of massive commercial vessels are funneled through an extremely tight

corridor every day, and critically, much of the northern shoreline of that corridor

belongs to Iran.

And that gives Tehran a significant tactical advantage.

For years, a Roddy and military planners have studied how to disrupt traffic through

the Strait using asymmetric tactics, everything from fast attack boats and anti-ship missiles

to drones and naval mines.

And that last weapon, mines, may be the real concern right now.

A recent report from the U.S. Congress estimates that Iran possesses somewhere between 5,000

and 6,000 naval mines, but Iran doesn't need to lay thousands of mines.

Even a relatively small number of them in the narrow shipping lanes of the Strait could

create a serious disruption.

Clearing mind-waters is a slow and painstaking process that can take days or even weeks.

And that helps explain why the U.S. is already taking aggressive action.

U.S. Central Command confirmed this week that American forces sank 16 Roddy and vessels

believed to be capable of laying naval mines near the Strait of Hormuz.

But here's the important point.

Iran doesn't need to formally close the Strait completely to achieve its goals.

Central shipping companies rely heavily on insurance to operate in conflict zones.

If insurers determine that the risk has become too great or if ship crews begin refusing

to sail through the region, take a traffic will grind to a halt, even if the Strait technically

remains open.

In other words, a handful of well-timed attacks could have an outsized impact on the global

energy market and that is what we're seeing currently.

And it's worth noting that the vessels targeted so far have not been American warships.

Timon commercial cargo ships flying flags from countries all over the world.

That means the economic consequences of this confrontation extend far beyond Washington

and Tehran.

China, Europe, India, Japan, many other countries rely heavily on oil shipments that pass through

the Strait of Hormuz, which brings us to the broader strategic picture.

For much of this war, the focus has been on airstrikes and missile attacks inside Iran,

and the Iranian regime fully understands their inability to fight toe-to-toe with the

US and Israel.

And that's why, increasingly, the waters of the Persian Gulf and especially the Strait

of Hormuz are grabbing the headlines.

It's one of the few ways that Iran has to threaten the global economy directly and pressure

the international community to their advantage.

The regime likely understands the impact that rising fuel prices and global economic instability

will have on the Trump administration's thinking.

In a sense, the Iranian leadership appears to be betting that this is Trump's weak point

and the most effective way to get him to declare victory and end the military operation.

Coming up next, new reporting suggests Russia may be helping Iran refine its drone attacks,

raising new questions about Moscow's role in the conflict.

I'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin.

What began as concerns that Russia might be sharing drone targeting information with

Iran now appears to be expanding.

New intelligence suggests Moscow may be helping the regime refine its drone tactics against

U.S. assets, drawing on its experience from Putin's four year invasion of Ukraine.

Now, if you've been following our coverage of the U.S. Israeli conflict against Iran,

you may recall that we talked about an earlier report suggesting that Moscow had already

been passing along targeting information to the Iranian regime, specifically information

about the movements of American warships aircraft and other military assets operating

across the Middle East.

At the time, that raised a serious question, had a major U.S. adversary quietly begun

helping the regime target American interests and the U.S. allies in the region.

At the time, the Trump administration dismissed those reports, stating that even if Russia

was providing that support, it would have no impact on U.S. operations.

Well, it now appears, according to further reporting, that Moscow's support to Iran may

be more extensive than originally claimed.

According to an exclusive report from CNN, what may have started as intelligence sharing

could now be evolving into something more operational.

In other words, the issue may no longer be whether Russia is helping Iran locate targets.

The bigger question now is whether Moscow is helping the regime figure out how to strike

those targets more effectively.

What we're learning now is that Russia may be assisting Iran with advanced drone tactics,

specifically, the kind that Moscow has refined during its four year war against Ukraine using

the same Iranian-designed Sheahead drones.

In other words, what goes around comes around.

Iran over the past four years has provided Russia with extensive drone support, and Russia

may now be returning the favor.

Because those drones, which have since been mass-produced by Russia, have proven to be far

more effective than military analysts initially expected at penetrating air defenses, particularly

across the Gulf region.

And that's a part that should get Washington's attention.

The new reporting suggests something more specific, tactical guidance on deploying Iranian-made

drones in ways that make them harder to intercept.

According to a Western intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to

the sensitivity of the intelligence, exactly which tactics are being shared remains unclear.

But if you look at how Russia has used Sheahead drones against Ukraine, another picture starts

to come into focus.

Moscow has repeatedly launched those drones in coordinated waves, sending multiple aircraft

at once and sometimes altering their flight paths, midcourse, to complicate interception,

and overwhelm air defense systems.

Now, US Special Envoy Steve Whitgov said Russia denied sharing intelligence with Iran

about American military assets in the Middle East, well, okay, I mean, if they deny it,

then I'm sure that's the case.

According to Whitgov, that denial was conveyed during President Trump's phone call on Monday

with Russian President Putin.

Whitgov said the message was later reiterated in a separate conversation between himself,

senior Trump advisor Jared Kushner, and Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushikov.

Well, I suppose if they've said it more than one time, then it must be true.

Whitgov noted that the administration could take Moscow at its word, but he also acknowledged

that the real answer would ultimately come from the intelligence community.

I'm sorry, did Whitgov say that the White House could take Moscow at its word?

I mean, at least, to be fair, he acknowledged that they might want to check to see what

the intel community thinks.

And right now, the emerging intel is telling a different story.

Gulf air defenses are facing Iranian drones that appear to be benefiting from those operational

methods that Russia has deployed to deadly effect against Ukraine.

Now in the category of, for what it's worth, it does not appear to be a stretch of the

imagination to believe that the Kremlin is aiding Tehran.

Nor is it a stretch to imagine that the White House is not keen to widen this conflict

by acknowledging Russia's role in supporting Iran.

And that desire to avoid making Russia part of an already complicated conflict may account

for their willingness to dismiss the reporting and pretend publicly that this isn't happening.

And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, the 11th of March.

Now, if you have any questions or comments and I hope you do, please reach out to me at

PDB at thefirsttv.com.

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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.

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