Mike Baker

It's Thursday, the 14th of May.

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, just days after reports revealed that the United Arab Emirates, the UAE, secretly struck Iran during the war, new reporting now claims that Saudi Arabia quietly launched retaliatory attacks of its own inside Iranian territory.

Later in the show, a massive corruption investigation inside Ukraine's leadership continues as President Zelensky's former chief of staff is arrested for alleged graft.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

Just two days ago, new reporting revealed that the United Arab Emirates had secretly launched military strikes inside Iran during the regional war.

Now, it appears the Saudis did the same.

According to new reporting from Reuters, Saudi Arabia carried out covert retaliatory strikes on Iranian territory back in late March, after Tehran launched waves of missiles and drones at the kingdom during the conflict.

If true, it would mark the first known incident where Saudi Arabia has directly attacked targets on Iranian soil and a major escalation between the Middle East's two most powerful regional rivals.

And perhaps even more importantly, it suggests that the true scope of this war has been far larger than publicly understood.

Because publicly, Gulf Arab states spent months presenting themselves as cautious actors, desperately trying to avoid being dragged into a direct war with Tehran.

Privately, it now appears at least two Gulf monarchies were quietly firing back.

According to Reuters, the Saudi strikes were carried out by the Royal Saudi Air Force in late March, as part of what Western officials described as, quote, tit-for-tat retaliation after Iran struck Saudi infrastructure and civilian targets.

The exact targets inside Iran remain unclear, but the broader message appears unmistakable.

Saudi Arabia wanted Tehran to understand that attacks on the kingdom would no longer go unanswered.

But unlike the more aggressive posture reportedly adopted by the UAE, the Saudis appear to have approached this very differently.

This wasn't about joining a broader American or Israeli war effort.

In fact, Riyadh simultaneously communicated to Tehran that it was not entering the wider war and did not want uncontrolled escalation.