March 12th, 2026: Iran Fires Dangerous New Missile & Emergency Oil Release
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's Thursday, the 12th of March. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, Iran has introduced a dangerous new weapon into the fight. Israeli officials say Tehran is now firing ballistic missiles armed with cluster warheads, sometimes referred to as cluster bombs, more difficult to intercept and more dangerous for civilians on the ground. I'll have the details. Later in the show, the West may disagree about the war in Iran, but there's one thing they can all agree on, and that would be cheap oil. Member countries in the International Energy Agency, the IEA, are releasing a record 400 million barrels from emergency reserves in an effort to stabilize markets and bring gasoline prices down.
Plus, we're learning new details about the toll this war has taken on American forces. A new report says as many as 150 U.S. troops have been wounded in the first 10 days of fighting with Iran. And in today's Back of the Brief, we've got new information about Iran's newly named supreme leader, that of course would be Moshtab al-Khamenei, and why he hasn't been seen in public since the war began. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. Iran appears to be adapting its tactics as the war grinds on, introducing a dangerous new weapon that Israeli officials say is now appearing on the battlefield, and that would be cluster munitions. According to Israeli authorities, Iran has begun firing ballistic missiles equipped with cluster warheads, weapons designed to burst open high in the air and scatter dozens of smaller explosives, sometimes referred to as bomblets.
across a wide area. Instead of one missile striking a single target, these weapons disperse multiple bombs over large sections of ground. They're not new, but they have been banned by over 100 countries. That makes them particularly difficult for air defenses to deal with.
What dangerous new weapon has Iran introduced into the conflict?
Even if Israeli systems manage to intercept part of the attack, the cluster bombs can continue falling across a wide area, creating multiple potential impact points. But the real concern isn't just their effectiveness against missile defenses, it's who they're most likely to hit. Cluster munitions are among the most controversial weapons in modern warfare. As mentioned, more than 120 countries have banned them outright because of the danger they pose to civilians. The smaller bomblets that they release often scatter unpredictably across neighborhoods and roads and open areas. Some fail to detonate on impact, effectively becoming hidden landmines that could injure or kill civilians long after the strike itself.
This danger has played out repeatedly in past conflicts. During the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, large numbers of cluster bomblets were left scattered across southern Lebanon, where unexploded munitions continued injuring civilians long after the fighting stopped. Similar problems have been documented in conflicts from Southeast Asia to Ukraine, where unexploded bomblets have turned farmland and roads and neighborhoods into long-term hazard zones. Compounding the problem, these weapons are notorious for having high dud rates, meaning a significant percentage of the bomblets never explode when they hit the ground. And that points to an uncomfortable reality about these weapons. Their usefulness against military targets is extremely limited.
The impact zones are so widely dispersed that they're poorly suited for striking specific infrastructure or hardened military facilities. Instead, their effects tend to fall most heavily on populated areas. In other words, the real damage these weapons inflict is often measured not in destroyed military targets, but in civilian casualties and psychological pressure. Israeli officials say that's exactly what they're now seeing, with cluster bombs reportedly falling across multiple areas as Iran continues its missile campaign. It's worth noting that this isn't the first time that Iran has deployed these weapons, and it was already known that cluster munitions were a part of Tehran's arsenal.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:12–2:12
2
What dangerous new weapon has Iran introduced into the conflict?
2:12–6:02
3
How is the International Energy Agency addressing the oil supply crisis?
6:02–6:37
4
What is the current toll on American service members in the Iran conflict?
6:37–7:37
5
What details have emerged about Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei?
7:37–21:59
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The President's Daily Brief
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