U.S. President Donald Trump threatened further strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub and urged allies to send warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran vowed to ‌step up its response and the war showed no sign on Sunday (March 15, 2026) of coming to an end.

Mr. Trump said the U.S. strikes had “totally demolished” most of Kharg Island and warned that more could follow, telling NBC News, “We may hit it a few more times ⁠just for fun.” While he said Tehran appeared ready to make a deal to end the conflict, he added that “the terms aren’t good enough yet.”

The comments marked an escalation in rhetoric from the President, who had previously said the U.S. targeted only military sites on Kharg. They also undercut diplomatic efforts, with three sources familiar with the situation telling Reuters that Mr. Trump’s ‌administration had already rebuffed efforts by Middle Eastern allies to start negotiations aimed at ending the war.

-Reuters

Iran’s ‌Assembly of Experts has named Mojtaba Khamenei ⁠to replace his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ‌as the country’s new supreme ‌leader, state ‌media reported ⁠on Sunday (March 8, 2026).

Mr. Mojtaba, a ⁠mid-ranking cleric with close ties to the powerful Revolutionary ‌Guards, had long been viewed by elements of Iran’s ruling ‌establishment as a potential successor to his father, who ⁠was killed after the United ‌States and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

His wife, Zahra Haddad-Adel, daughter of a former speaker of parliament, also died in the U.S.-Israeli strikes according to Iranian authorities.

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U.S. President Donald Trump blames Iran for what the country’s authorities said was a deadly strike on a school in the southern county of Minab.

“We think it was done by Iran. Because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever,” says Mr. Trump to the reporters aboard Air Force One.

According to Iranian authorities, a strike hit a girls’ elementary school last Saturday, killing more than 150 people, mostly students.

-AFP

“Iran has said ‘Thank you President Trump.’ I have said, ‘You’re welcome!’,” U.S. President Donald Trump said. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

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.