Trump Pushes Iran on Deal; Former Prince Andrew Released After Arrest

0:28The news doesn't stop on the weekends. We put the past week's events into context, examining what happened in the markets and the world. Then on Sundays, we speak with journalists, columnists, and key political figures to prepare you for the week ahead. Join us as soon as you wake up and bring us with you wherever your weekend plans take you. Watch us on Bloomberg Television, listen on Bloomberg Radio, stream the show live on the Bloomberg Business app, or listen to the podcast. That's Bloomberg this weekend, Saturdays and Sundays starting at 7 a.m. Eastern on February 28th. Make us part of your weekend routine on Bloomberg Television, Radio, and wherever you get your podcasts.

1:09Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. And Karen, oil is trading at near a six-month high this morning on concerns the U.S. is moving closer to a war with Iran. The military buildup continues in the Middle East, and President Trump says Iran has days to agree to a deal over its nuclear program. Now we may have to take it a step further, or we may not. Maybe we're going to make a deal. You're going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days. The U.S. now has more forces in the Middle East than at any point since the Iraq war.

1:49As far as his domestic agenda, Nathan, President Trump is declaring victory in the fight over cost of living concerns. He paid a visit yesterday to the crucial battleground state of Georgia. What word have you not heard over the last two weeks? Affordability. Because I've won. I've won affordability. This signals a new approach by the president. He denied problems with his economic agenda while touting stock market gains to insist that his tariff plans have been a success. Turning to the UK now, Karen, former Prince Andrew has been released after he was detained on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

2:26Let's go to London and get the very latest from Bloomberg's Tiwa Adebayo. Good morning, Tiwa. Good morning, Nathan and Karen. Well, the fallout is continuing here in the UK after the unprecedented arrest of former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor yesterday. The latest is that he has now been released from police custody under investigation. That was yesterday evening. Thames Valley Police confirming the release of a man in his 60s in Norfolk, not naming him as is per the national guidance here in the UK. This arrest coming, of course, after revelations about Mr Mountbatten Windsor's ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

3:01He has denied all wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. Just in terms of the latest from the rest of the royal family, whilst this news was breaking yesterday, the King was taking part in a public engagement at London Fashion Week. He also released an official statement in which he said the law must take its course. In London, Tiwa Adebayo, Bloomberg Radio. All right, Tiwa, thank you. There is more fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein case right here in the U.S. The late sex offenders estate has agreed to pay up to$35 million to resolve all outstanding legal claims from women who have not already reached settlements.

3:34This proposed settlement covers at least 40 women who say they were sexually abused or trafficked by Epstein between 1995 and August 10th, 2019, the day he was found dead in his jail cell. Their lawsuit was originally filed in 2024 against the Epstein estate's two co-executors, his longtime lawyer, Darren Indyke, and accountant Richard Kahn. Both men have not been accused of abusing women or witnessing abuse. They've denied all liability to Epstein's victims and agreed to the settlement terms without admitting fault. A federal judge still has to approve the deal. Karen, let's turn now to the latest in the search for Nancy Guthrie.

4:11Tomorrow will be three weeks since the mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie was seen at her home near Tucson. The FBI has received more than 20 ,000 tips, and Pima County Sheriff Chris Nano says every lead helps. When those tips dry up, this case goes cold. We believe somebody out there knows who did this. We need that person to call us. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nano spoke to the ABC station in Tucson. He says DNA evidence found at Guthrie's home is still going through lab analysis and several hundred personnel from multiple law enforcement agencies are assigned to the case. Investigators have also identified an Ozark brand backpack the suspect was seen wearing in surveillance footage.

4:47They're working to determine where he bought other items. The FBI reward for information that leads to Nancy Guthrie's return is up to$100 ,000. Let's turn to the markets now, Nathan. And futures are higher as we close out the trading week. And company news Netflix said its proposed acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery will lead to more films in movie theaters. This addresses a key concern from Hollywood. In an interview with Bloomberg, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarando says he is highly confident he will win the battle against Paramount Skydance for Warner Brothers. I think in the alternative, this guy has gone, you know, missed every deadline.

5:25They've been taking nine runs at this bid, and they're not seen their big problem except this outcome. And Netflix's Ted Sarandos made the comments earlier in an interview with Bloomberg. And you can catch that interview as well as live streaming news, all our Bloomberg TV shows, documentaries, and more, all in one place at Bloomberg.com forward slash videos. For the first time in decades, the U.S. imported more from Taiwan than China. In fact, U.S. purchases of goods from China plunged almost 44 percent in December from a year earlier, while shipments from Taiwan more than doubled during the same period to$24.7 billion.

6:04This soaring Taiwanese shipments to the U.S. reflects the huge expansion in supplies of chips and servers for AI companies. And U.S. and Chinese fighter jets briefly faced off, Karen, above waters near the Korean Peninsula, marking a rare confrontation in that area. Yan Hop News is reporting that the U.S. planes did not enter China's air defense identification zone, but Beijing scrambled planes as they neared that region.

6:30Time now for a look at some of the other stories making news in New York and around the world. And for that, we're joined by Bloomberg's Michael Barr. Michael, good morning. Good morning, Karen. Forecasters are keeping an eye on a developing coastal storm that will move up the eastern seaboard Sunday into Monday. How much snow depends on its track. Bloomberg meteorologist Rob Carolyn has the latest. Michael, we're still watching the potential for a coastal storm Sunday into early Monday. The models are still in disagreement. The U.S. model brings the storm closest to the coast and has the most accumulation.

7:02European models further to the south and just kind of brushes the tri-state area with a little bit of light snow for late Sunday and on into Monday. We'll continue to monitor the situation over the upcoming weekend. Hopefully by tomorrow the models will start to get an idea exactly where this system is headed. I'm Rob Carolyn, Bloomberg Radio. Thank you, Rob. President Donald Trump is directing federal agencies to release government documents related to extraterrestrial life and unexplained aerial phenomenons. President Trump accused former President Barack Obama of giving away classified information when he discussed the idea of extraterrestrial life during a recent podcast appearance.

7:41The U.S. intelligence community released a report in 2021 detailing what it knew about unidentified flying objects spotted by military pilots over the past several decades. The National Governors Association is pulling out of an annual meeting at the White House after President Trump declined to invite two Democratic governors. President Trump is still expected to meet with the governors at the White House today. Police in Idaho are searching for a suspect who stole an ambulance and then rammed it into a Homeland Security office near Boise. Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterica says then the suspect tried to set a fire but fled after being scared off by first responders.

8:23There is no doubt this building would have been burned, putting the lives of first responders and others at risk. No one was injured. Actor Eric Dane has died. Dane rose to fame as Dr. Mark Sloan on TV's Grey's Anatomy. McSteamy! Woo-hoo! Is that what you call me now, McSteamy? Yeah, but I don't think you're supposed to know that. He later starred on Euphoria. Last April, Dane shared his diagnosis of ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Eric Dane was 53. Global News, 24 hours a day, and whenever you want it. With Bloomberg News Now, I'm Michael Barr, and this is Bloomberg, Karen. Thanks, Michael. Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update.

9:06And for that, we bring in John Stashauer. Thanks, Karen. U.S. Olympic drama and all of it from women. First, it was the hockey team who had been so dominant, and then in the gold medal game against Canada, shut out for 58 minutes. Finally, Hillary Knight, the captain, scored, sent the game to overtime where Megan Keller scored, the U.S. with the 2-1 victory over Canada, and the gold medal. Then it was the figure skating, a free skate performance by Alyssa Liu, nearly three points better than anyone. First U.S. women's gold since 2002. That's your Bloomberg Sports Update. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this.

9:44Hello, I'm Stephen Carroll. I'm in Brussels, where many of Europe's biggest decisions get made. And I'm Caroline Hepker in London. We're the hosts of the Bloomberg Daybreak Europe podcast. We're up early every weekday, keeping an eye on what's happening across Europe and around the world. We do it early so the news is fresh, not recycled, and so you know what actually matters as the day gets going. From Brussels, I'm following the politics, policy and the people shaping the European Union right now. And from London, I'm looking at what all that means for markets, money and the wider economy. We've got reporters across Europe and around the globe feeding in as stories break.

10:21So whether it's geopolitics, energy, tech or markets, you're hearing it while it happens. It's smart, calm and to the point. And it fits into your morning. You can find new episodes of the Bloomberg Daybreak Europe podcast by 7am in Dublin or 8am in Brussels, Berlin and Paris. On Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

10:47Coast to coast on Bloomberg Radio. Nationwide on Sirius XM. and around the world on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg Business App. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. 10 to 15 days. That's how long President Trump says Iran has to strike a nuclear deal as the U.S. assembles a vast array of military forces in the Middle East. Now is the time for Iran to join us on a path that will complete what we're doing. And if they join us, that'll be great. If they don't join us, that'll be great too. but it'll be a very different path. That was President Trump speaking at the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington.

11:26Joining us from Dubai this morning is Stuart Livingston-Wallace, head of Middle East coverage for Bloomberg News. Stuart, what does the path look like at this moment? Good morning. Good morning, Nathan. So it's a little bit uncertain other than we know that the time frame that we were anticipating has been brought forward pretty significantly. And now we have this sort of what looks like a hard deadline of 10 to 15 days, which is a tall order. I remember the last time there was a nuclear deal with Iran, it took roughly two years. So to try and do it in 10, 15 days is going to be very difficult.

11:57But what underpins it this time, as you mentioned, was this vast military buildup that you've seen, pretty much the biggest that we've seen in about a quarter century since 2003. So the clock is ticking. And really what we're waiting for is proposals to come from Iran for a potential third round of negotiations, that's supposed to arrive in the next 10 days or so. And I guess we're going to see what's in those and whether that's going to be enough to satisfy the US administration. That is one of the ultimate questions, isn't it? Whether it is going to be enough when we've heard from Israel, the prime minister Netanyahu, suggesting that the US should go for regime change potentially in Iran.

12:38That's quite right. What we don't know and what's not clear at the moment is what exactly Trump's ambitions are in this regard. Does he want to go for a short strike to try and wring some more concessions out of Iran, certainly to expand the negotiations to things like ballistic missiles and the regional proxies like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and so on, on top of the nuclear file? You know, these are all very big questions. Regime change, that is really up for debate about whether you can achieve that even with the amount of military hardware that he has in the region, because you would presume, not necessarily, but you would presume that it would require boots on the ground.

13:15And that feels like a step too far at the moment. Let's talk about the buildup that we have seen at this point. You mentioned that it's the kind of buildup that we haven't seen in nearly a quarter century. What kind of firepower is in the region at this moment? You've got one carrier strike group that's already here, along with a whole array of ships. So you've got a second one that's currently coming up in the Mediterranean. We're not quite certain where it's going to end up, but it may well end up off the coast of Israel, from which it can launch attacks, obviously, but also it will play a defensive role, because the assumption is that if it escalates and escalates and escalates, it does have the potential to become a regional war, and Israel would obviously be a target, as it was in that 12-day war in June last year.

13:59So on top of that, it's been moving air defences into the region, that is specifically Patriot and THAAD missile systems, which again, we presume are being stationed around numerous US military bases. But on top of that, we have to think about the infrastructure that's in the region and how critical that is for the world's economy, specifically the oil fields, as well as the export ports. And we're all looking very carefully at the Persian Gulf, which carries something like between a quarter and a fifth of the world's seaborne oil. So that is the focus really for us in the next several days. With that kind of firepower amassed in the region and after the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities last summer, in our last minute, Stuart, what kind of defense could Iran potentially mount against the U.S.?

14:48I mean, the short answer is that it's massively outgunned. It has no aircraft carriers. It has no helicopter carriers, no destroyers. It has a handful of frigates and corvettes. So from that point of view, not a great deal. It does have a significant stockpile of ballistic missiles, and they are a genuine concern, as well as the so-called asymmetric warfare that you find with drones. There's an unknown quantity of those. So it really depends on what, in the eventuality of an attack on the wrong, what it decides to do in terms of retaliation. Does it go for the symbolic or no retaliation that we saw largely last year, or does it try and escalate the situation?

15:22So that's really something that we're looking. our assumption is if it's going to go for serious retaliation, it will target shipping. That seems to be potentially the easiest targets for it. You saw that playbook with the Hoosies in the Red Sea for the last several years, and that can be incredibly disruptive.

15:54live each morning starting at 5 a.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg 1130 in New York, Bloomberg 99.1 in Washington, Bloomberg 92.9 in Boston, and nationwide on Sirius XM Channel 121. Plus, listen coast to coast on the Bloomberg Business app now with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto interfaces. And don't forget to subscribe to Bloomberg News Now. It's the latest news whenever you want it, in five minutes or less. Search Bloomberg News Now on your favorite podcast platform to stay informed all day long. I'm Karen Moscow. And I'm Nathan Hager. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak.

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