PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 31st, 2026: U.S. May Declare Victory Soon & IDF’s CNN Controversy

It's Tuesday the 31st of March. We've made it through another month, would you look

at that? Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker from your eyes and ears on

the world stage. Alright, let's get briefed.

Next up, New Reporting, reveals President Trump is willing to end the war with Iran without

reopening the Strait of Hormuz, raising serious questions about what victory actually

looks like and who might be left to deal with the fallout. Later in the show, Israel

suspends a battalion after its troops detained a CNN crew in the West Bank, as the IDF

faces scrutiny over the incident. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. We're getting

a clearer picture of how the Trump administration may be thinking about the end game in the war

with Iran, and it raises a fundamental question. What does victory actually look like? According

to New Reporting from Wall Street Journal, President Trump has told AIDS that he's willing to wind

down the military campaign, even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed. Now, that's a

significant shift, and one that could, obviously, redefine how this conflict ends. Because after Iran

began choking off the Strait, reopening it was widely seen as a central objective. But behind

the scenes, administration officials have concluded that actually forcing it open would likely push

the conflict well beyond the president's preferred timeline of four to six weeks. In that timeline,

appears to be driving the strategy. On one hand, US and Israeli operations have already achieved

several key military objectives, destroying Iran's naval capabilities, degrading its missile

stockpiles, and putting sustained pressure on the regime's ability to project force beyond its

borders. But reopening Hormuz, well, that's a different kind of fight entirely. We're talking about

clearing naval mines that can be deployed quickly and cheaply, countering swarms of fast attack

boats operating close to Iran's coastline, protecting commercial tankers with escort vessels and

air cover, and maintaining a constant visible security presence in what's now the most contested

waterway on the planet. This would not be a short-term operation, obviously, and it's only

effective in keeping the Strait open for as long as the operation is maintained. Once stopped,

it would take very little for the existing Iranian regime to restart the chaos and shut down

the waterway again. So instead, what appears to be emerging, that least according to the journal,

is a two-phase approach. Phase one, achieve military objectives, weaken Iran's capabilities,

and create the conditions to claim success. Phase two, well, shift the burden of securing

the Strait onto allies, particularly in Europe and the Gulf, while increasing diplomatic pressure

on Tehran to allow shipping to resume. Now, the White House has already begun signaling exactly

that, publicly calling on other nations to step up and take control of the waterway themselves,

and that introduces a new layer of uncertainty. Because while Washington views the

Strait as far less critical to its own energy needs, the US actually imports only a small share of

its oil and virtually no liquefied natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz, it remains essential

to global markets, particularly for countries in Europe and Asia that depend heavily on Gulf

energy flows. And as long as Iran retains the ability to disrupt that flow, even intermittently,

it maintains a powerful form of leverage over the global economy. We're already seeing the effects,

oil prices have surged well past $100 a barrel, and disruptions to shipping are beginning to

ripple through supply chains, tied to everything from fuel to fertilizer to industrial gases used

in manufacturing. So, even if the US winds down military operations, the economic consequences

of a constrained or shut down Hormuz could continue to escalate. Now, there are many folks who

argue that the US shouldn't have to take the lead or be engaged in working to reopen the Strait,

the argument being that Europe and Asia depend far more on that waterway for their energy needs.

But again, nothing happens in a bubble in this world that's a very interconnected place.

And the best example of that is the rising cost of gas at the pumps in the US. The national

average for a gallon of gas is now over $4. The US may not depend on the Strait for oil,

but a closed or severely restricted Strait will mean increasing prices at the pump for US voters,

and the White House is well aware of that. And then there's the contradiction in posture.

Even as the administration discusses wrapping up the current phase of the war,

additional US forces are still moving into the region, including elements of the 82nd Airborne

Division and marine expeditionary units operating from ships like the US has triply.

And that raises an obvious question, if the conflict is potentially nearing an end,

why are more troops arriving? Well, it may be that Washington is hedging,

preparing options if diplomacy fails or Iran escalates further. Or it could signal a transition

to a different kind of mission, one focused less on large-scale strikes and more on deterrence,

presence or limited operations tied to securing key terrain or assets.

So here's where we appear to be. The US may be preparing to conclude the war on its own terms,

achieving its primary military objectives declaring victory and moving on, hoping to avoid

voter backlash from a sustained conflict, while leaving the most complex and time-consuming

challenge unresolved. Because ending the war without reopening the Strait of Hormuz is a

serious problem, not just for Europe and the Gulf States and Asia, but also for the US.

The current Iranian regime, as it stands, is still the Islamic Republic. It's not a new regime,

it's the same regime staffed by new faces, many of whom are reportedly more hard-line.

It's the same regime, but now further, under the control of the security apparatus,

primarily the Revolutionary Guard Corps. And if that regime continues to exert influence

over the Strait, either through threats to commercial shipping or extorting tolls from vessels

for safe passage, and if US allies and regional partners are unable or unwilling to engage in

what would be a long-term effort to reopen and secure the Strait, well, this will be a long-term

problem that everyone will eventually pay for. All right, coming up next, Israel sidelines a

battalion of troops after it reportedly held a CNN crew for hours in the West Bank,

putting the Israeli Defense Forces the IDF under fresh scrutiny. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin. By now, you've likely seen the headlines

about the Israeli defense forces detaining a CNN crew in the West Bank.

But the response from Israel's military is what's drawing new attention with the IDF,

now taking the unusual step of suspending the battalion at the center of it.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with what occurred last week, well, here's a recap.

This unfolded in the village of Tiasir, where a CNN crew, led by Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy

Diamond, was on the ground reporting on attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

At some point during that reporting, soldiers from the IDF's Netza Yahuda battalion stepped in.

According to CNN's account, the crew was detained for roughly two hours.

One of the soldiers placed photojournalist Cyril Theophilus in a chokehold forced him to

the ground and damaged his camera. Again, the CNN crew was released after a couple of hours.

The situation gained attention quickly, though, both inside Israel and internationally.

What stands out is what happened next. Because in the days that followed,

the IDF moved quickly and very publicly. The Israeli military first condemned the incident,

then made the decision to suspend the battalion's operational deployment altogether,

while launching a formal military police investigation.

An IDF spokesman said, quote, it was a bad incident that shouldn't have happened.

It doesn't represent how our soldiers should act, end quote.

And the response from Jerusalem didn't stop there. In a formal statement,

the IDF said the battalion would remain in reserve service while undergoing a process

aimed at reinforcing its, quote, professional and ethical foundations,

with the full findings of the inquiry expected to be released in the near future.

We're also starting to see accountability at the individual level, with one soldier dismissed,

others reprimanded, and the soldier involved in the altercation now under formal military police

investigation. According to CNN's Jeremy Diamond, the incident, quote, laid bare the settler

ideology, motivating many of the soldiers who operate in the West Bank, with some troops in

his account, asserting that all Palestinians are terrorists.

If you look further into the Netzaehuda unit, also known as the 97th battalion of the

Kaffir Infantry Brigade, it's an ultra-Orthodox unit that has faced scrutiny for years over

alleged abuses in the West Bank. It's drawn criticism, not just within Israel,

but also from US officials. In fact, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken

had been weighing sanctions against the unit, something that would have been unprecedented,

before ultimately deciding not to move forward. But Israeli President Isaac Herzog

did, in fact, weigh in, condemning violence by what he described as IDF, quote,

extremist elements in the West Bank, writing that those actions stand, quote,

in stark contradiction to the values upon which Israel was founded, end quote.

And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon Bulletin for Tuesday, the 31st of March.

Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com.

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I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.

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