Mike Baker

It's Friday, the 10th of April.

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, a ceasefire may or, well, may not be in place between the U.S.

and Iran, while the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut down, not to mention, but I'm about to, that Iran is still firing missiles and drones at Gulf states.

And all along, here I thought a ceasefire meant that you, I don't know, ceasefire.

And now, just hours before talks begin, or supposedly begin, between the U.S.

and Iran, both sides are already raising the stakes.

Later in the show, a brief Easter ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine is set to take hold.

but few believe it will last.

Regardless, behind the scenes, one senior Ukrainian official now says a peace deal may be closer than expected.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

We begin today with rising tensions between the US and Iran.

You know, could they rise any further?

I don't know.

Just hours before the two sides are supposedly set to sit down for their first direct talks since the war began.

Ahead of those talks, scheduled for Saturday morning in Pakistan, President Trump is making it clear that he's not pleased with how Tehran is handling the ceasefire, particularly when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz.

In a series of posts on Truth Social on Thursday night and Friday, the president slammed Iran for acting in bad faith, saying, quote, Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable, some would say, of allowing oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz, end quote, while adding, quote, that is not the agreement we have.

Well, maybe it's just me, but I don't think that a regime that just recently admitted to slaughtering thousands and thousands of their own citizens really gives a rat's ass about being called dishonorable.