What you need to know
Thank you for joining our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East, now in its fourth week.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
- US President Donald Trump has threatened to “obliterate” Iranian power plants unless the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, giving the regime a 48-hour deadline in a post on social media at about 11am Sunday AEDT.
- If the US targets Iranian energy infrastructure, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – in a statement broadcast by state media – said it would “completely close” the strait. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, said that “energy and oil facilities across the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be irreversibly destroyed”.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran’s missiles have the capability to reach “almost everywhere in Europe” after the Iranian regime’s failed attack on a joint UK-US air base on the island of Diego Garcia, 4000 kilometres from Iran.
- At least 175 people were injured in Iranian missile attacks on the southern Israeli cities of Arad and Dimona, near an Israeli nuclear facility, after air defences failed.
- Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz expanded the military’s list of targets to include all bridges over the Litani River in southern Lebanon. Israel later struck the Qasmiyeh bridge near Tyre.
- Energy Minister Chris Bowen has warned of bumpy supply from next month as crude oil from the Middle East is expected to become scarcer. At least six ships destined for Australia had been cancelled due to the conflict, with about 80 ships expected to arrive, he said.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will step up his diplomatic efforts this week to push Asian countries to keep supplying oil to Australia.
‘It’s time to heed Trump’s call’: Netanyahu tells world leaders
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says leaders of the free world need to heed US President Donald Trump’s call to join in the war with Iran, as he claimed Iran’s missiles could reach “almost everywhere in Europe”.
“I ask the leaders of the world, the leaders of the free world, the leaders of the moderate states, what more are you waiting for?” he said.
“President Trump has correctly said that … the United States and Israel, in this great partnership, we’re fighting the battle not only for ourselves but for all of you. And he asked a simple question: ‘Where are you?’
“It’s time to heed President Trump’s call, his vision, not really for our sake, but for your sake.”
Israel strikes main bridge in southern Lebanon
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz expanded the military’s list of targets in Lebanon to include all bridges over the country’s Litani River, a focal point of the renewed Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Katz on Sunday accused Lebanon’s Iran-backed militant group of using the crossings over the waterway, about 30 kilometres north of Israel’s border, to move fighters and weapons into southern Lebanon.
Israel later struck the Qasmiyeh bridge near Tyre, giving an hour’s warning.
Katz also ordered the military to accelerate its destruction of Lebanese homes near Israel’s northern border “to eliminate threats to Israeli communities.”
Strait of Hormuz will be ‘completely closed’ if Trump targets energy infrastructure: Iran
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in a statement broadcast by state media, said it would “completely close” the Strait of Hormuz if the US targets Iranian energy infrastructure.
“The Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed and will not be opened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt,” the Guards said in a statement.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, said in a post on X that “energy and oil facilities across the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be irreversibly destroyed”.
US President Donald Trump has given Iran 48 hours to “fully open” the strait “without threat”.
with Reuters
What you need to know
Thank you for joining our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East, now in its fourth week.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
- US President Donald Trump has threatened to “obliterate” Iranian power plants unless the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, giving the regime a 48-hour deadline in a post on social media at about 11am Sunday AEDT.
- If the US targets Iranian energy infrastructure, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – in a statement broadcast by state media – said it would “completely close” the strait. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, said that “energy and oil facilities across the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be irreversibly destroyed”.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran’s missiles have the capability to reach “almost everywhere in Europe” after the Iranian regime’s failed attack on a joint UK-US air base on the island of Diego Garcia, 4000 kilometres from Iran.
- At least 175 people were injured in Iranian missile attacks on the southern Israeli cities of Arad and Dimona, near an Israeli nuclear facility, after air defences failed.
- Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz expanded the military’s list of targets to include all bridges over the Litani River in southern Lebanon. Israel later struck the Qasmiyeh bridge near Tyre.
- Energy Minister Chris Bowen has warned of bumpy supply from next month as crude oil from the Middle East is expected to become scarcer. At least six ships destined for Australia had been cancelled due to the conflict, with about 80 ships expected to arrive, he said.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will step up his diplomatic efforts this week to push Asian countries to keep supplying oil to Australia.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
