Loading...
Loading...

Before we get started, a quick reminder, okay, well, fair enough, not not so much a reminder
as a bit of shameless marketing. Now, if you've ever said to yourself, golly, I really love
the president's daily brief, but I wonder if I could listen to it at free. Well, the answer is yes,
you can. Just become a premium member by visiting PDB premium dot com in addition to the morning
and afternoon briefs. You'll also get access to our regular Ask Me Anything episodes,
the weekly PDB Intelligence Checklist, and other subscriber-only shows. Again, head on over
to PDB premium dot com to join it's Tuesday the 24th 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.
And first up, the White House moves to release Iranian oil onto global markets. It's a decision
that could send billions of dollars to the Iranian regime. The same regime that the US is currently
at war with. Confused? Well, I'll have the details, but you'll still be confused. Later in the
show, as the fight with Iran intensifies, the US is now battling on another front, launching
strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq. But first, in today's afternoon spotlight.
We'll start things off today by taking a look at one of the more controversial and unusual,
possibly surreal efforts by the White House to ease the economic impact of the Iranian war
and minimize political damage at home. Specifically, the Trump administration is now facing
growing pushback over a decision that's raising eyebrows across Washington, D.C., temporarily
easing sanctions on Iranian oil, potentially unlocking up to $14 billion for Tecron,
at a time when the US is actively engaged in a conflict with the regime.
We briefly covered this in an earlier PDB. The move allows millions of barrels of Iranian oil,
currently sitting at sea, to be sold on global markets over the next month,
with the goal of increasing supply and bringing down rising energy prices,
with oil hovering near $100 a barrel and gas prices climbing at the pump in the US.
The White House is clearly looking for ways to stabilize the market and avoid voter
displeasure. But here's where things start to get a bit awkward. You'll recall that President Trump
once criticized repeatedly former President Obama over sending far smaller payments to Iran
in what was seen by many as a payment for the release of hostages. As an aside,
the Obama administration at the time refuted that allegation that they had paid a ransom.
But well, when Iran handed over hostages and the Obama White House handed over a pallets of fat
stacks, it was hard to see it as anything other than a ransom payment. But now, the Trump administration
finds itself defending a move that could deliver a far larger financial boost to the Iranian regime.
While US forces and allies are, of course, actively engaged in a fight against them.
Treasury Secretary Scott Besant tried to explain the strategy over the weekend,
describing it as kind of an economic jujitsu, flooding the market with Iranian oil to drive prices
down and, in theory, limit the regime's leverage. The concept, if limited to a theory on paper,
might make sense if the price of oil drops Iran makes less money. But here in the real world,
putting the currently in limbo at sea Iranian oil into the market won't significantly
drive down the price of oil. Prices are rising because the state of Hormuz is essentially closed,
and releasing Iranian oil does nothing to open the strait, nor does it ease the fears and
concerns of the global markets, given that the conflict continues. Now to be fair, a short-term
infusion of cash, even 10 billion, give or take a few billion, won't rescue Iran's economy.
Your sub-sanctions have taken a real toll, but that's not really the point. The issue isn't
whether this move saves the Iranian regime, it's whether it makes sense to provide any financial
relief at all to an adversary that you're currently bombing. And there's another problem here.
Much of Iran's oil trade already operates in the shadows, moved through a so-called shadow fleet,
often sold at a discount to China and a small group of countries willing to bust the existing
sanctions. It's not entirely clear how much of this stranded oil can actually be redirected
into legitimate markets, or whether the U.S. will be able to track and control or restrict where
the money ultimately ends up. The narrative used by the Obama administration back when they were
providing funds to the regime was that they would be able to track the flow of funds to ensure
the money did not end up fueling Iran's missile and nuclear programs or proxy network. It was
a nonsensical notion when said by Democrats at the time, and it would be equally nonsensical if
the Republicans try to argue that they can keep any oil revenues out of the hands of the Iranian
regime. Money heading to Iran will end up with the military and the IRGC and the same repressive
government structure that the U.S. is currently bombing. All right, coming up next, the U.S. takes
the fight to Iran's proxy network, striking militia leadership in Iraq. I'll be right back.
Hey, Mike Baker here with a message for dog lovers. Now, if you're like me, dogs are an important
part of family life, right? We've got two ourselves. Our Golden Retriever Hendrix, he's a good old
boy about 14 years old now and Monty are very cute but somewhat dim-witted King Charles Spaniel.
As you probably know, when you're a dog lover, well, it comes to dog food,
there's always seems to be a compromise. Now, you know what I'm talking about, right? It's
either fresh and healthy or it's easy to store and serve. Well, that's what I love about
Sundays for dogs. With the Sundays for dogs brand, you get both fresh and healthy dog food
that's easy to store and serve, right? Founded by veterinarian Dr. Tori Waxman,
Sundays is created with air-dried real food made in a human food grade kitchen using the same
ingredients that you'd use to cook for your family. Everybody is clean, packed with real meat,
fruit and veggies. There's no weird, unpronounceable ingredients, no fillers. Compared to other brands,
Sundays invests 50 times, it's 50 times more than its ingredients for true premium quality. There's
no cost cutting, just scoop and serve, no freezing, no thawing, no prep, no mess, no fuss, no muss.
Make the switch to Sundays. Go right now to sundaysfordogs.com slash PDB50 and get 50% off your first
order or you can use code PDB50 at checkout. That's 50% off your first order at Sundays for
dogs.com slash PDB50. Again, Sundays for dogs.com slash PDB50 nor use the code PDB50 at checkout.
Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, you may know me as the host of the PDB. Well, I certainly hope you do
know me as the host of the PDB, but did you know I'm also a business owner? That's right,
have been for years. And as a business owner, I'm always focused on how to best maintain client
relationships and of course find new clients, which is why I want to tell you about a great business.
It's called Quo Q U O. Now, Quo is the number one rated business phone system with Quo,
you never miss a call because as business owners know, missed calls could be missed revenue. Quo
helps you and your team share one business number, reply faster and stay on top of every customer
conversation. So you never miss an opportunity to connect. That's why today's episode is brought
to you by Quo again. That's Q U O, the smarter way to run your business communications. Quo is
built for how modern teams work more than 90,000 businesses rely on Quo to stay connected,
professional and consistently reachable. It's easy. Calls, texts, voicemails, transcripts and
contact details all live in one clean view. Make this the season where no opportunity and no
customer slips away. Try Quo for free. Plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to
Quo.com slash PDB. Again, that's Quo Q U O Quo.com slash PDB Quo, no missed calls, no missed
opportunities. President Barack Obama Virginia, we are counting on you. Republicans want to steal
enough seats in Congress to raid the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years,
but you can stop them by voting yes by April 21st. Help put our elections back on a level
playing field and let voters decide not politicians. Vote yes by April 21st.
Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin. We've been watching the war in Iran move beyond
the regime's borders and now it's pushing further into Iraq, where U.S. Air strikes hit one
of Tehran's most important proxy networks. According to regional officials, one of the primary
targets was a popular mobilization forces or PMF headquarters in Iraq's on-bar province,
where senior commanders were reportedly set to meet today. On the ground, Reuters confirmed that
ambulances were seen in Ramadi as casualties mounted, with early estimates suggesting up to 30
fighters were killed or wounded, with the toll likely to rise. Now I want to point out that in
the early hours of the strike, there were also reports of a possible strike near a habania,
which is between Baghdad and Ramadi, with social media posts claiming a Shi'i militia base had
been hit. But at this point, it's not entirely clear whether this was a separate strike or part
of the same operation that targeted the PMF headquarters. The targeting suggests obviously an
effort by Washington to hit the Iran-backed group's leadership network rather than just rank and
file fighters. According to early reports, Saad al-Baiji, the PMF's operations commander in the
province was among the dead. His funeral quickly turned into a public show of anger just hours after
his death, with crowds shouting while carrying his coffin and portrait through the streets of Baghdad.
There are also reports circulating across social media that suggest his deputy may have also been
killed, though that hasn't been independently verified. Further reporting indicates that a separate
U.S. strike hit a residence in Mosul belonging to the leader of the PMF. He reportedly wasn't
on-site at the time, but the structure was destroyed. For background, the PMF is an umbrella
network, mostly of Shi'i militias that were formally folded into Iraq's state security forces.
So technically, they're part of the Iraqi government. But in practice, many of their most powerful
factions operate very differently. They mostly function as Iranian proxies, trained, funded,
and in many cases directed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, forming a key part of
the regime's strategy to project power beyond its borders. And it goes even further than that,
while the PMF is officially part of Iraq's armed forces, many of its leaders are tied to Iran-back
militias that the U.S. has designated as terrorist organizations, groups that have helped and trench
Tehran's influence inside Iraq's security apparatus. Essentially, Iranian-directed militias
make up a powerful element of the Iraqi government. And that brings us to their role in the U.S.
Israeli war with Iran. Since Washington and Jerusalem began military operations against Iran
on the 28th of February, Iran-aligned factions operating within the PMF network have carried out
attacks, targeting the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and other sites across Iraq and Syria.
So for weeks, these groups have been on the offensive. Now, they're taking direct hits.
PMF officials are describing today's strikes as, quote, treacherous. And notably, they blamed
both the U.S. and Israel, calling it a, quote, U.S. Zionist Airstrike, which brings us to the
political fallout. Iraq's Prime Minister finds himself in a delicate position. On one hand,
he needs to maintain Baghdad's relationship with Washington, which remained central to ongoing
counterterrorism operations, as well as economic development. On the other, he's dealing with powerful
Iran-aligned factions that are formally part of his country's security structure and exert
significant influence within the Iraqi government. It's another example of how this conflict
was never going to be just contained within Iran's borders. And that, my friends, is the PDB
afternoon bulletin for Tuesday the 24th of March. If you have any questions or comments,
please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And to listen to the show Add Free,
well, you can do it and just become a premium member of the president's daily brief
by visiting PDBpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed,
stay safe, stay cool.
Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever left the doctor's office feeling like
you? Well, like you'd got nothing out of it. You know what I'm talking about, right? Just got
some standard instructions, maybe to eat right and exercise. Oh, well, thanks for that.
That's why I want to tell you about superpower. It's a tremendous app that can help you stay
on top of your health. One lab draw tracks over 100 biomarkers. Their app provides detailed
information on your heart, your liver, your thyroid, hormones, metabolism, even your true biological
age, hopefully it's younger. They send a licensed professional to your home or you can visit a nearby
lab. You can essentially access high-end, concierge level care for only $179 using our special
PDB discount. Make this the year you stop guessing about your health with superpower.
Not only did superpower reduce their price to just $199, but for a limited time,
our listeners get an additional $20 off when you head to superpower.com slash PDB and use the code
PDB. Again, that's superpower.com slash PDB and code PDB checkout for $20 off your membership.
After you sign up, well, don't ask you what you heard about them. Do me a favor,
let them know that the PDB sent.
The President's Daily Brief
