PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 16th, 2026: Trump’s Hormuz Coalition & Israel Pushes Into Lebanon

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it's Monday the 16th of March 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 the fight for the Strait of Hormuz continues the White House is working

to assemble a multinational naval coalition aimed at reopening the

critical oil choke point but after loudly criticizing allies over the

past couple of weeks are there going to be any takers later in the show Israel

launches ground operations in southern Lebanon as clashes with

Hezbollah intensify along its northern border but first today's afternoon

bulletin with the Strait of Hormuz quickly becoming the most critical flash

point in the war against Iran the White House is now working behind the scenes

to assemble what officials are calling a quote Hormuz coalition at just rolls

off the tongue a multinational effort aimed at reopening the narrow water

way after tech rounds attacks have disrupted global oil shipments and of

course sent energy prices climbing according to reports the Trump

administration hopes to announce the coalition as soon as this week the ideas

to bring together a group of allied nations willing to escort commercial

tankers through the narrow waterway ensuring that oil and gas shipments

can once again move safely out of the Persian Gulf the stakes here are obidously

significant roughly 20% of the world's oil supply passes through that narrow

stretch of water every day but oil isn't the only thing moving through the

strait about one-fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas the LNG

shipments pass through it as well major energy exporters including Saudi

Arabia Iraq Kuwait the United Arab Emirates and Qatar all rely on this

strait to move their oil and gas to global markets as a result of the Iranian

regime's threats and attacks on commercial vessels

traffic to the strait has almost ground to a halt tankers carrying Iranian

crude are still being allowed through shocking while shipments from

neighboring Gulf states are being blocked that allows tech

round to keep its own oil flowing largely to china with some movie to

India while squeezing global supply and pushing prices higher the

proposed coalition would attempt to break that blockade by providing armed

escorts for commercial shipping countries participating in the mission

could contribute naval warships surveillance drones maritime patrol aircraft

or command control support for the operation president trump who frankly

spent the past couple of weeks criticizing allies for their failure to take

part in the US and Israeli offensive against Iran well he's now

pressing a wide range of allies to participate in this coalition including

NATO countries as well as major and Asian energy

importers such as Japan and South Korea he's also publicly called on China

to take part that's right arguing that much of the oil moving through the

strait is destined for foreign markets rather than the US

whether Beijing would be eager to help patrol those waters is another matter

entirely Chinese shipments are reportedly passing through the strait without much

interference and China remains one of the largest buyers of Iranian oil

that leaves Beijing with little incentive to send warships into a

confrontation with Tecron and the fact that the Chinese leadership only acts in

the best interests of the Chinese Communist Party well that makes it highly

unlikely that Xi Jinping will want to take part in any such coalition now for a

very interesting assessment of China's potential involvement in this conflict

give a listen to our most recent PDB situation report featuring insight from

retired admiral markment gumbry you can catch it on our youtube channel just go

to youtube of course and search up at president's daily brief now the US

actually receives very little oil directly through the strait of hormones

roughly two to three percent of american imports because the US now

produces much of its own oil domestically disruptions in the strait

tend to show up stateside primarily in the form of higher prices at the pump

but for europe and asia the stakes are significantly higher not only do they

depend heavily on middle eastern oil moving through the strait but many european

countries again also rely on liquefied natural gas shipments from cutter that pass through

those same waters with Russian energy supplies largely cut off europe has

become particularly vulnerable to disruptions in those shipments that reality

appears to be driving quiet discussions in Brussels about how europe might

contribute to reopening the strait european union foreign policy chief kaya kallas

said monday that EU officials are exploring options for naval involvement

noting that keeping the strait open is clearly in europe's interest

one option under discussion would expand the EU's existing regional naval mission

which currently protects commercial shipping in the red sea and extending its operations into

the Persian Gulf another possibility would be forming what officials described as a

quote coalition of the willing with individual european countries contributing ships and military

assets on an ad hoc basis so far no country has publicly committed forces to the mission

a fact that has drawn further criticism from trump but despite that official say governments

are quietly weighing their options as the situation in the Gulf continues to evolve

at the same time the trump administration is reportedly considering a far more aggressive option

if the blockade continues several US officials say the president has discussed the possibility

of seizing iran's key oil export hub on carg island so strategic terminal located about 15

miles off iran's southern coast that handles roughly 90 percent of the country's crude exports

taking control of carg island would effectively cut off the iranian regime's primary source of

revenue dealing what some officials have described as an economic knockout blow but and this won't

surprise you that option carries serious risks unlike a naval escort mission seizing the island

would require american troops on the ground positioned just off iran's coast and well within reach

of iranian missiles drones and fast attack craft all right coming up next israeli forces pushing

to southern Lebanon launching limited ground operations as clashes with hezbollah intensify

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welcome back to the pdb afternoon bulletin the Israeli military says its troops have begun

localized ground raids inside southern lebedon announcing today that the new effort is aimed at

dismantling chesbala infrastructure that threatens communities in northern israel according to

the israeli defense forces the idea of troops from its 91st division have begun with the army

describes as quote limited and targeted ground operations against chesbala strongholds along the

frontier the goal here from the idea appears to be straightforward destroy Iran backed terrorist

infrastructure eliminate fighters operating near the frontier and reduce the threat chesbala

poses to Jewish communities now it's important to focus on where this idea of operation is actually

unfolding one of the key flashpoints currently is the southern Lebanese city of kiam and if you

look at a map well the reason quickly becomes clear kiam sits on elevated terrain just a few kilometers

from the israeli border and the latani river giving whoever controls that ground a commanding view

over northern israel and the surrounding levities planes israeli strikes have already been reported

in and around the city with at least three airstrikes hitting kiam is the fighting intensifies

military analysts who spoke with al-Jazeera say the city is also widely seen as a gateway into southern

lebedon but kiam isn't the only place israeli forces are targeting the idea of have also been

reported in several nearby towns including a cluster of chesbala controlled areas surrounding the city

two additional airstrikes were reported there according to al-Jazeera and the specific

targeting of these chesbala strongholds comes down to supply routes as kiam sits near a key road

junction linking the east and west sectors of southern lebedon one of those routes leads

directly toward the back of valley that's an area where chesbala maintains some of its most

important logistical hubs and weapons stockpiles israeli forces appear to be trying to cut

chesbala supply lines before the terror group can move additional weapons or fighters into

positions south of the latani river israeli defense minister israel cats confirm the operation

saying quote the idea has begun ground operations in lebedon to eliminate the threats and protect

the residents of gallilee and the north he also made clear that israel intends to maintain

pressure on the region until those threats are eliminated cat said hundreds of thousands of

residents of southern lebedon have been evacuated during the early stages of the ground operation

and that none of them will be able to return to areas south of the latani river until israel

believes its northern border is fully secure from chesbala threats as of now more than 800,000

people have fled their homes as israeli evacuation warnings expand across southern lebedon and

parts of bay route in an effort to limit civilian casualties and that my friends is the bdb

afternoon bulletin for monday the sixteenth of march now if you have any questions or comments

and i hope you do please reach out to me at pdb at the first tv dot com and of course

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of the president's daily brief by visiting pdb premium dot com i'm mike baker and i'll be back

tomorrow until then stay informed stay safe stay cool

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