Here’s the latest
The war in the Middle East has now been running for more than a month. You’re following our live coverage of the conflict as it enters its fifth week.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking after he met with G7 foreign ministers in France, said the US expected its operation in Iran to conclude in “weeks, not months”. He said the US could “achieve all our objectives without deploying ground troops” in Iran.
- In a joint statement, the G7 ministers called for an end to attacks on civilians and reiterated the “absolute necessity to permanently restore safe and toll-free freedom of navigation” in the Strait of Hormuz.
- Iran and Israel traded missile strikes this morning. The Israeli military struck central Iran’s Arak heavy-water plant, describing it as a “key plutonium production site for nuclear weapons”. US troops were also injured in an Iranian missile attack on a military base in Saudi Arabia.
- In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced new laws to allow the government to use public funds to underwrite private companies buying additional shiploads of petrol or diesel and bring them into the country.
- Albanese called out Australians who were hoarding petrol, decrying the act as “not the Australian way”.
Trump:‘We don’t have to be there for NATO’
Donald Trump said on Friday the United States does not “have to be there for NATO,” comments that again raised questions about the US president’s commitment to the mutual defence provisions at the centre of the transatlantic alliance.
Speaking to an investment forum in Miami on Friday night, Trump said he was upset that European NATO countries had declined to provide material support to the US as it nears the fourth week of its ongoing war on Iran.
European allies were not consulted by the US on its decision to attack Iran late last month, and many leaders in the alliance opposed the action.
“We would have always been there for them, but now, based on their actions, I guess we don’t have to be, do we?” Trump told the audience.
Iran launches more missiles targeting Israel
Israel’s military said early Saturday that Iran fired missiles targeting the country.
The latest missiles follow an earlier salvo that killed 1 person and injure more across Israel late Friday and into Saturday.
Sirens sounded in northern Israel, along the border with Lebanon, where rocket and drone attacks from Hezbollah have been constant during the war.
Elsewhere, Bahrain says it has extinguished a fire in a facility targeted in Iran, and explosions have been reported outside Damascus in Syria, though it is not known if this latter event is related to the war at this stage.
AP, Reuters
‘We can’t think in boxes’: Growing connection between Ukraine, Iran wars
There is a growing connection between the wars in Ukraine and Iran.
Tehran had supplied Moscow with drone technology that Russia used in its invasion of Ukraine.
Now, US and European officials say Russia is sending a shipment of those drones back to Iran with updated technology.
The UK’s latest defence intelligence assessment says Russia almost certainly provided training and intelligence, including on types of drones and electronic warfare, with Iran ahead of the war in the Middle East.
Iran’s soccer team honours victims of school strike
Players held small backpacks as Iran’s national soccer team used a match against Nigeria overnight to honour the victims of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school.
More than 165 people were killed, most of them children, when a February 28 strike, likely launched by the US, hit the school in southern Iran. Neither the United States nor Israel has accepted responsibility for the attack, which has come under staunch criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups.
The US military is investigating and has said it would never target civilians.
The Iranian team honoured the memory of the slain children by holding small pink and purple school backpacks while singing the national anthem.
Houthis ‘ready for action’
Houthi militants in Yemen said they were ready for direct military action if any other countries joined the US and Israel, if the Red Sea was used for hostile operations against Iran, or escalation continued against Tehran’s proxy groups, according to spokesperson Yahya Saree.
That might be a threat to Gulf nations frustrated by Iranian attacks that have considered joining the US and Israeli campaign.
Yemen borders Oman and Saudi Arabia at the south-western tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Not unlike Iran with the Strait of Hormuz, Yemen has a coastline on one of the most significant choke points for global trade: the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
This strait is a 26 to 30-kilometre-wide passage in the Red Sea. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, targeted vessels in the Red Sea after Israel began its attacks on Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Southern Israel. The Houthis and US agreed to a truce in May 2025.
Bloomberg with Alexander Darling
Here’s the latest
The war in the Middle East has now been running for more than a month. You’re following our live coverage of the conflict as it enters its fifth week.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking after he met with G7 foreign ministers in France, said the US expected its operation in Iran to conclude in “weeks, not months”. He said the US could “achieve all our objectives without deploying ground troops” in Iran.
- In a joint statement, the G7 ministers called for an end to attacks on civilians and reiterated the “absolute necessity to permanently restore safe and toll-free freedom of navigation” in the Strait of Hormuz.
- Iran and Israel traded missile strikes this morning. The Israeli military struck central Iran’s Arak heavy-water plant, describing it as a “key plutonium production site for nuclear weapons”. US troops were also injured in an Iranian missile attack on a military base in Saudi Arabia.
- In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced new laws to allow the government to use public funds to underwrite private companies buying additional shiploads of petrol or diesel and bring them into the country.
- Albanese called out Australians who were hoarding petrol, decrying the act as “not the Australian way”.
Trump says he’s really a peacemaker
Donald Trump was asked what he would like his legacy to be at the Miami event where he has been speaking this morning.
He responded by saying that “it doesn’t sound right for me to say this, but I’d love my legacy to be made as a great peacemaker.”
He added: “I really believe I’m a peacemaker. It doesn’t seem it right now, but I think I’m a peacemaker.”
AP
US troops injured in Iran missile attack in Saudi Arabia
An Iranian missile attack has wounded at least 12 US service members and damaged several planes at a military base in Saudi Arabia, according to two US officials familiar with the situation.
Two of the troops were seriously wounded, one of the officials said. The attack on Prince Sultan Air Base damaged several US refuelling aircraft, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.
The attack, which involved an Iranian missile as well as drones, comes a day after President Donald Trump said Iran has been “obliterated” and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said that “never in recorded history has a nation’s military been so quickly and so effectively neutralised.”
This is not the first time that Prince Sultan Air Base has been targeted by Iran. Army Sergeant Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, was wounded during a March 1 attack on the base and died days later. He is one of the 13 service members who have been killed in the war.
Satellite imagery that appeared to show the damage to the aircraft in the latest attack had been posted online. The attack was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.
Crisis will affect next budget, PM admits
Albanese and Bowen have finished addressing the media. At the end of the press conference, the PM conceded that the fuel crisis, which has sent fuel prices skyrocketing and raises inflation risks, will impact the government’s decisions in the federal budget, due on May 12.
“This context will change the deliberations that happen in the budget. That’s just the truth of the matter,” Albanese said.
This masthead has reported that soaring fuel costs are casting doubt on government plans to tax drivers of electric vehicles and has raised the prospect of cutting fuel excise taxes, which would lower the price of petrol but increase the cost to the public purse.
Hoarding petrol ‘not the Australian way’: Albanese
The prime minister is criticising people who are hoarding fuel, referring to pictures published by media outlets of people filling jerry cans at service stations.
He said commonsense behaviour by the public was the best way to avoid the need to implement heavy-handed COVID-style restrictions.
“That’s not the Australian way. People need to take what they need and no more,” Albanese said in reference to people filling jerry cans. “We need to learn the lessons of COVID now. I don’t want things to be mandated [which are] common sense.
“There are more people working from home who are able to do so. That makes sense. There are more people catching public transport than before. That also makes sense.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
