The latest developments
Welcome to our continuing coverage of the conflict in the Middle East. Here’s what you need to know.
- US President Donald Trump said he was considering winding down military efforts in the Middle East as the US gets close to meeting its objectives.
- The comments came despite the US moving to send three more warships and 2500 troops to the region, and Trump seeking an additional $US200 billion ($284 billion) from Congress to fund the war.
- When asked what he’d like Australia to do, Trump told Canberra to get involved in the conflict and claimed Australia had declined his request for help.
- The president also slammed NATO allies as “cowards” for not sending troops to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global oil trade.
- People have been urged to work from home, drive at lower speeds, and avoid air travel to offset the risk of a severe oil shortage if the Strait of Hormuz remains shut.
- New strikes were reported in Tehran, fresh evacuation orders issued for Beirut, and missile and drone attacks reported in Kuwait, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s spokesman Brigadier General Ali Mohammad Naini warned that “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” would not be safe for its enemies. The Guards later said Naini had been killed in a Friday Israeli strike.
- Falling missile debris struck Jerusalem’s Old City during an Iranian attack this morning.
The risky ground operation that could drag out Iran war
The Trump administration is considering plans to seize Iran’s oil export hub on Kharg Island, US officials have told media, even as President Donald Trump talks publicly of “winding down” the conflict.
A ground operation to take over the tiny island, which is responsible for virtually all of Iran’s oil exports, could be used as leverage to pressure the regime to re-open the crucial shipping channel in the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz.
But experts warn the move could also drag out the Iran war, and put American troops more directly in the line of fire.
“He wants Hormuz open,” a senior White House official told Axios. “If he has to take Kharg Island to make it happen, that’s going to happen. If he decides to have a coastal invasion, that’s going to happen. But that decision hasn’t been made” yet.
In recent days, the president has spoken more and more of “knocking out [Iran’s] oil by striking Kharg Island and railed against NATO allies for not joining US efforts to end Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran targets US-UK military base in Indian Ocean
Iran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia but did not hit the US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing multiple US officials.
One of the missiles failed in flight, while a US warship fired an SM-3 interceptor at the other, although it could not be determined if the interception succeeded, the newspaper said. The Journal did not specify when the missiles were fired.
The White House and the British embassy in Washington and Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Earlier today the British government gave authorisation for the US to use military bases in Britain to carry out strikes on Iranian missile sites used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Reuters
Israeli military striking Beirut
The Israeli military said it is launching strikes on Beirut, shortly after issuing new evacuation orders for parts of the Lebanese capital.
“The IDF is currently attacking targets of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah in Beirut,” the military posted on X.
About three hours before the strikes, IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee urged residents in a range of southern neighbourhoods to evacuate.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 1000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million.
How an Israeli raid tore apart this tiny Lebanese town
The air strikes put Khalil Moussawi on high alert before the helicopters arrived and the Israeli soldiers blasted the main square. He was at home on his lounge when the first strike came, and he sat quietly listening as about 40 others hit his town into the night.
Then he heard the helicopters, and a neighbour told him enemy troops were in their streets.
Over the next few hours, Moussawi was caught in a firefight that left dozens dead and wounded from a secretive Israel Defence Forces (IDF) operation in Nabi Chit, a town in eastern Lebanon that is a stronghold for Hezbollah fighters locked in conflict with Israel. Moussawi, one of the older men of the town, prayed in his apartment when black smoke spread through his building and explosions shook the square.
“The soldiers threw smoke bombs and blinded our view so that you couldn’t see your own finger,” he says. “The drones were hovering over the people and shooting at them. It was carnage.”
Read the full story from correspondent David Crowe and photojournalist Kate Geraghty, who are on the ground in Lebanon.
US temporarily lifts sanctions on stranded Iranian oil
The Trump administration will lift sanctions on Iranian oil stranded at sea for a month as the White House tries to bring down soaring oil prices.
The pause applies to Iranian oil loaded on ships as of Friday and is set to end on April 19.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously suggested the move as a way to prevent China from being the sole beneficiary of Iranian oil.
The Trump administration also eased sanctions on Russian oil shipments already at sea for 30 days as it looks for ways to boost global oil supplies during the Iran war.
The licence has limits including a restriction on sales involving anyone in North Korea or Cuba.
AP
Trump administration’s crackdown on military reporting ruled illegal
A US federal judge has agreed to block the Trump administration from enforcing a policy limiting news reporters’ access to the Pentagon, agreeing with The New York Times that key portions of the new rules are unlawful.
District Judge Paul Friedman, in Washington DC, sided with the newspaper and ruled that the Pentagon policy illegally restricts the press credentials of reporters who walked out of the building rather than agree to the new rules.
The Times sued the Pentagon and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in December, claiming the credentialing policy violated the journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process.
The current Pentagon press corps comprises mostly conservative outlets that agreed to the policy.
The latest developments
Welcome to our continuing coverage of the conflict in the Middle East. Here’s what you need to know.
- US President Donald Trump said he was considering winding down military efforts in the Middle East as the US gets close to meeting its objectives.
- The comments came despite the US moving to send three more warships and 2500 troops to the region, and Trump seeking an additional $US200 billion ($284 billion) from Congress to fund the war.
- When asked what he’d like Australia to do, Trump told Canberra to get involved in the conflict and claimed Australia had declined his request for help.
- The president also slammed NATO allies as “cowards” for not sending troops to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global oil trade.
- People have been urged to work from home, drive at lower speeds, and avoid air travel to offset the risk of a severe oil shortage if the Strait of Hormuz remains shut.
- New strikes were reported in Tehran, fresh evacuation orders issued for Beirut, and missile and drone attacks reported in Kuwait, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s spokesman Brigadier General Ali Mohammad Naini warned that “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” would not be safe for its enemies. The Guards later said Naini had been killed in a Friday Israeli strike.
- Falling missile debris struck Jerusalem’s Old City during an Iranian attack this morning.
Thousands killed, 300 million at risk of food insecurity
The death toll of the US-Israel war on Iran has risen to more than 1300 people in Iran itself, more than 1000 people in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 US military members in the region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
In addition to the direct danger civilians are facing across the Middle East, knock-on effects from the war threaten millions across the globe, warned the president of the International Rescue Committee and former UK foreign minister David Miliband.
“It is the world’s most vulnerable who risk paying the highest price,” Miliband said.
Watch: Trump’s latest comments on Iran war
US President Donald Trump spoke to reporters about the war and opening the Strait of Hormuz as he departed the White House on Friday afternoon, US time.
Just before he boarded a US military helicopter bound for Florida, Trump called on Canberra to get involved in the Iran war and claimed Australia had declined his request for help.
Attacks reported across the Gulf, new evacuation orders for Beirut
Attacks are being reported across the Gulf states, with the BBC reporting strikes are hitting Tehran and air defences have been activated in the Iranian capital.
Authorities in Kuwait, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates said they were dealing with drone and missile attacks from Iran in recent updates. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence said it had intercepted and destroyed six drones in the country’s east.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has put out new evacuation orders for a range of southern suburbs in Beirut, warning it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
More than a million people in Lebanon have already been displaced by the war, according the United Nations.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
