It's Thursday, the 16th of April 2.

I'm Mike Baxter afternoon bulletin.

All right.

All right.

Let's get briefed. First up,

Washington ups the pressure on Iran, expanding its naval blockade worldwide while cutting off key

oil waivers, moves that could choke Tehran's economy and potentially raise the risk of a

confrontation at sea. Later in the show, in a move that the

U.S. hasn't seen since World War II, the Pentagon is in talks with major automakers like General

Motors and Ford about shifting production to weapons and military hardware. It's Rosie the Riveter

version two. But first, today's PDB spotlight. A number of key announcements

over the past 24 hours shows that the U.S. is tightening the screws on Iran, and it's no longer

just about blocking their ports. First, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command has announced that

they're expanding the scope of the ongoing blockade,

making it clear that Iranian vessels and any ships under U.S. sanctions or suspected of carrying contraband are now subject to boarding, search, and seizure, regardless of where

they are in the world. In practical terms, that means location no longer offers protection. Whether a vessel is in

CENTCOM's waters or out in the Pacific or anywhere in between, it could now be intercepted by U.S.

forces. That's a major shift, because until now, the blockade exclusively targeted ships

traveling to and from Iranian ports. But this new directive effectively globalizes the effort, putting what's often referred to as

Iran's dark or shadow fleet, those tankers used to quietly move sanctioned oil, squarely in the

crosshairs no matter where they're operating.

And the rules are clear.

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