Asked what Donald Trump meant by accepting only “unconditional surrender,” Karoline Leavitt said on Friday that it will be achieved when the president “determines that Iran no longer poses a threat to the United States of America” and the mission’s goals have “been fully realised.” 

“Then Iran will essentially be in a place of unconditional surrender,” she told reporters outside the White House “whether they say it themselves or not. Frankly, they don’t have a lot of people to say that for them.”

-AP

As a fresh West Asia conflict risks sending oil prices sharply higher, Saudi Arabia, Russia and six other key members of the OPEC+ alliance are widely expected to announce an output increase on Sunday (March 1, 2026), analysts say. 

The virtual meeting by the eight members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied nations (OPEC+) known as the “Voluntary Eight” (V8) comes a day after the U.S. and Israel launched an ongoing wave of strikes on Iran.

Last year, the V8 group — comprising Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman — boosted production by around 2.9 million barrels per day (bpd) in total before announcing a three-month pause in output hikes.

But now the picture has changed dramatically.

Brent, the global benchmark for crude oil, jumped more than 3% on Friday (February 27) to trade over $73 per barrel, up from $61 at the beginning of the year.

-AFP

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah and an Iranian Opposition figure, has released a statement terming the strike on Iran as ‘humanitarian assistance’ and calling for ‘reclaiming Iran’.

“The aid that the President of the United States promised to the brave people of Iran has now arrived. This is a humanitarian intervention; and its target is the Islamic Republic, its repressive apparatus, and its machinery of slaughter—not the country and great nation of Iran.”

“In these sensitive hours and days, more than ever, we must stay focused on our ultimate goal: reclaiming Iran.”

“I ask you to remain in your homes for now and preserve your safety and security. Stay vigilant and ready so that, at the appropriate time—which I will announce to you precisely—you can return to the streets for the final action,” he said in a post on X.