1h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 6:25amLet’s bring you up to speed
Hello, if you’re just tuning in, let me bring you up to speed on the latest from the Middle East:
Over the last few hours, Iran and its allies have traded fire with Israel and the United States, as Washington-linked assets across the Middle East are targeted alongside civilian infrastructure.The ABC has verified video showing the moment an Iranian ballistic missile strikes Petah Tikva in central Israel.The UN Security Council has postponed a vote scheduled for Friday on a draft resolution to authorise the use of “defensive” force to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks. US President Donald Trump has said the US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran”, threatening to destroy bridges then electrical power plants.Domestically, Energy Minister Chris Bowen has revealed 410 stations across Australia have run out of diesel, while another 145 stations are out of unleaded petrol.However, 53 ships carrying fuel are on their way to Australia and are expected to arrive this month, Mr Bowen said. He says there’s 3.7 billion litres of fuel on board. 9m agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 7:30amIranian media claims US F-35 has been shot down
Iranian media is claiming a US F-35 jet has been shot down over Iran.
Press TV, an Iranian state-owned news media organisation, said that the fifth-generation fighter jet was struck and downed over Iran, according to a spokesman of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters.
(X: Press TV)
The report said the pilot most likely died on impact “given the massive explosion on impact and during the crash”.
These photos have not been verified, and the photo below appears to show the vertical stabiliser of an F-15E Strike Eagle, an older fourth-generation fighter that is used by both US and Israeli air forces.
(X: Press TV)
A few weeks ago, a US F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing at a US air base in the Middle East after it was believed to be struck by an Iranian missile.
21m agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 7:17am
Former CIA director warns strait could become ‘we break it, you own it’
Former CIA director Bill Burns is warning the crisis over Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz could become a case of “we break it, you own it” for America’s allies.
Mr Burns, a former State Department diplomat, said that Donald Trump could try a ground operation to take Iran’s Kharg Island, its main oil terminal, or territory along the strait, but both carry significant risks.
A satellite image shows damage on Kharg Island after US strikes. (Reuters)
“Then there’s the third option, which is effectively declaring victory and the inversion of the old Colin Powell Pottery Barn rule, which was ‘we break it, we own it,'” he said, referencing a comment attributed to former US Secretary of State Colin Powell before the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
“Instead, it would be, ‘we break it, you own it, and it’s over to you guys,’ whether it’s European allies or Gulf Arabs or anybody else to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Reporting with AP
1h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 6:38am
Billions of litres of fuel are en route to Australia. Is it enough?
Earlier today, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said 410 stations across Australia have run out of diesel, while another 145 stations are out of unleaded petrol.
He also revealed that 53 ships carrying fuel are on their way to Australia and are expected to arrive this month, Mr Bowen said.
He says there’s 3.7 billion litres of fuel on board — but not everyone feels reassured. Industry stakeholders have told the ABC that despite the billions of litres, it still won’t be enough.
Read more from my colleagues here:
1h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 6:06am
Macron tells Trump to ‘be serious’
French president Emmanuel Macron has referenced apparent mixed messaging on the Iran war from US president Donald Trump, advising him to “be serious” and “don’t speak every day”.
Mr Macron says the war is not a “show” but about war and peace and lives of men and women.
It comes while tensions rise between the US and its traditional European allies including France and amid Mr Trump’s threat for the US to quit NATO.
The French president also dismissed a remark made by Mr Trump this week that Mr Macron’s wife Brigitte treats her husband “very badly”.
“The remarks I have heard to which you refer are neither elegant nor up to standard so I’m not going to respond to them,” he said.
“They do not merit a response.”
2h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 5:36amWatch: Iranian missile strikes Israel
Earlier, we brought you some photos of the damage Iranian missiles caused in Israel, in the residental city of Petah Tikva, approximately 20 kilometres from Tel Aviv.
We have since verified some footage of those strikes.
Here’s a video that captures the exact moment an Iranian ballistic missile bypassed air defence systems and its aftermath of damage in Petah Tikva.
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2h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 5:00am
Former lead JCPOA negotiator raises concerns about Trump’s ‘stone age’ comments
Robert Malley was one of the lead negotiators on the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan.
He told 7.30 that the rhetoric Trump used in his Thursday address should not be normalised.
“Just listening to him, [it is disturbing] how normalised it’s become to have a president threaten to commit war crimes, which is what bringing Iran back to the Stone Age would be, on behalf of an unlawful war,” he told 7.30.
“He seems to be driven by this notion that if the US has the capability to do something militarily, it can do it and it will do it if he thinks that Iran is not capitulating or is not responding to his every demand.
“I think we should pause a bit and think the most powerful man on Earth has just threatened to destroy not a government, not military sites, but a country on behalf of a war that he still is not able to justify.”
3h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 4:24amUN Security Council delays vote on authorising force to protect Hormuz
The UN Security Council has postponed a vote scheduled for Friday on authorising the use of “defensive” force to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks, according to the official program.
The 15-member body was set to vote Friday morning on a draft resolution brought by Bahrain, but by Thursday night the schedule shifted.
The reason given was that the United Nations observes Good Friday as a public holiday, according to diplomatic sources, despite this fact being known when the vote was first announced.
No new date has been given for voting on the draft.
Reporting with AFP
3h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 4:05am
Bangladesh implements austerity measures
Bangladesh is curtailing office hours and enforcing early closure of malls and shops this Friday to handle its energy crisis related to the war.
The country’s cabinet ordered 30 per cent spending cuts for fuel and power at government offices, suspended some staff training and stopped purchases of new vehicles, ships and aircraft. Decorative lighting will also not be allowed for celebrations.
Bangladesh, a nation of more than 170 million people, is seeking alternative fuel sources and $US2.5 billion in external financing for imports, which account for 95 per cent of its fuel.
Reporting with AP
4h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 3:23am
Regional infrastructure hit as Iran and Israel/US exchange fire
Over the last few hours, Iran and its allies have traded fire with Israel and the United States, as Washington-linked assets across the Middle East are targeted alongside civilian infrastructure.
Strikes have increasingly targeted economic and industrial sites, raising fears of wider disruption to global energy supplies and deepening the conflict’s impact beyond the battlefield.
Iran said its latest wave of attacks had struck targets in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Israel in retaliation for earlier US-Israeli strikes on its industrial facilities.
They included “American steel industries in Abu Dhabi, American aluminium industries in Bahrain, and the Rafael arms factories of the Zionist regime”, it said.
Israel’s military warned Friday, local time, that its air defences were operating to down missiles fired from Iran, although there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Fresh explosions had earlier been reported in the Tehran area, with Iranian state television reporting US-Israeli strikes hit a bridge in the northern town of Karaj twice — the first causing civilian casualties and the second striking as emergency teams responded.
US President Donald Trump — who on Wednesday threatened to bomb the Islamic republic “back to the Stone Ages” — maintained his harsh rhetoric as he posted on social media that the bridge had been sent “tumbling down” and promising “much more to follow”.
The country’s two largest steel plants have also been forced offline by repeated US and Israeli strikes, companies said.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they had launched a fourth attack on Israel, firing a “barrage of ballistic missiles” at targets in the Tel Aviv area.
Reporting with AFP
4h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 2:58amTrump threatens to destroy ‘bridges next, then electric power plants’
US Presdient Donald Trump has said the US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran” in a new post to his platform Truth Social.
“Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran,” he wrote.
“Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants! New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST! President DONALD J.TRUMP.”
It adds to comments the president made in his address to the nation on Thursday that Iran was going to be “hit extremely hard over the next two to three weeks” and that the US’s mission in Iran was nearing its completion.
5h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 2:32am
Argentina expels Iranian ambassador
Argentina has expelled Iran’s diplomatic envoy following what the foreign ministry called “false, offensive and baseless accusations” by Tehran.
Mohsen Soltani Tehrani, Iran’s charge d’affaires and counselor, was ordered to leave the country within 48 hours, the ministry said in a statement.
The expulsion came two days after Argentina — where President Javier Milei is a close ally of US President Donald Trump — designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a “terrorist organisation”.
The expulsion order accused Iran of “obstructing justice” and said Argentina “will not tolerate affronts or interference”.
The row reflects deep anger in Argentina over Iran’s refusal to comply with arrest and extradition warrants related to the 1994 assault on a Jewish community centre that killed 85 people.
Reporting by AFP
5h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 2:14am
Trump is ‘delusional’ on nuclear and regime change, says ex-negotiator
Robert Malley (Getty Images: Riccardo De Luca)
US President Donald Trump is “delusional” and “seeking to deceive his audience” when it comes to what he claims is the success of the Iran war.
Those are the words of Robert Malley, who in 2015, under the Obama administration, was one of the lead negotiators on the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive A.
When Mr Trump addressed the United States on Thursday with a speech full of bluster and bravado, he made claims of dismantling a regime, destroying Iran’s alleged nuclear capabilities and ruining the Islamic Republic’s navy and air force.
Mr Trump also blamed the previous Biden administration for leaving the United States “dead and crippled”.
Mr Malley, who served under Mr Biden as special envoy for Iran, spoke to 7.30 in the wake of Mr Trump’s comments on the war — a war that, despite being successful in killing previous supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several regime leaders, has caused global economic pain.
Read more about that here:
5h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 2:10amBowen says 410 stations across Australia have run out of diesel
As Australians hit the road this Easter long weekend, Energy Minister Chris Bown has revealed the number of service stations across the country without fuel.
A total of 410 stations across the country are out of diesel and another 145 stations are out of unleaded petrol.
Meanwhile, 48 stations in New South Wales are out of all stock.
“Most of the shortages we’re seeing are in diesel,” Bowen says.
“But of course, as I said, refineries and petrol companies are working hard to refill that stock over the Easter break, so that those Australians who rely on diesel can know that the diesel is flowing as quickly as it can.”
Bown says the diesel shortage is worst in New South Wales.
“That’s mainly because it’s sowing and seeding time, and the companies are rightly, in my view, concentrating on getting that fuel to farmers,” he says.
“So they can get their seeds in the ground, so that they can continue to feed us over coming weeks and months.”
Here’s the full break down of the fuel shortages by state and territory:
NSW: 182 stations are out of diesel, with 48 fully out of stockVIC: 76 stations out of diesel, 37 out of unleadedQLD: 75 stations out of diesel, 24 out of unleadedSA: 28 out of diesel, 15 out of unleaded unleadedWA: 37 stations out of diesel, 58 out of unleadedTAS: 7 stations out of diesel, 7 out of unleadedNT: 5 stations out of diesel, 4 out of unleaded
5h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 2:00am
Pictures show damage Iranian missiles caused in Israel
A missile strike site in Petah Tikva, Israel (Reuters: Ammar Awad)
(Reuters: Ammar Awad)5h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 1:43amUN Security Council to vote on authorising force to secure strait
The UN Security Council will vote on Saturday at 2am AEDT on a draft resolution brought by Bahrain to authorise the use of “defensive” force to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks.
Iran has placed a stranglehold on the key shipping lane,— threatening fuel supplies and roiling the global economy, in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that triggered the month-old Middle East war.
“We cannot accept economic terrorism affecting our region and the world. The whole world is being affected by the developments,” Bahrain’s United Nations ambassador Jamal Alrowaiei said this week.
He said the draft text, which has gone through several amendments and is supported by the US, “comes at a critical juncture”.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for countries struggling with fuel shortages to “go get your own oil” in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that US forces would not help them.
A sixth and final draft, seen by AFP, greenlights the 15 member states — either unilaterally or as “voluntary multinational naval partnerships” — to use “all defensive means necessary and commensurate with the circumstances”.
It applies to the strait and adjacent waters to “secure transit passage and to deter attempts to close, obstruct or otherwise interfere with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz”.
The measure would last for a period of at least six months.
The draft resolution has been molded in a bid to rally several countries that have appeared skeptical, including Russia, China and France.
Revised wording no longer explicitly invokes Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows the Security Council to authorize armed force to restore peace.
The latest version to be voted on tomorrow morning also emphasises the defensive nature of any intervention — a stipulation that seems to have alleviated French concerns.
Reporting with AFP
6h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 1:20am
Kuwait says it is responding to missile and drone attacks
Kuwait’s military says its air defences are working to intercept missiles and drones fired towards the Gulf nation’s territory.
“Kuwaiti Air Defenses are currently responding to hostile missile and drone threats,” the Kuwaiti army posted on X, saying any explosions heard were air defence interceptions.
Reporting with AFP
6h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 1:16am
Nature day celebrations continue in Tehran amid strikes and Trump’s threats
(AP: Vahid Salemi)
Powerful blasts shook the Iranian capital on Thursday but, still, hundreds of families picnicked in parks to mark the final day of Persian new year festivities.
Also known as Nature Day, tradition calls for spending the day outdoors to ward off bad luck.
“We must keep this ritual alive under all circumstances, even in the current situation and despite the distress we feel,” Roya Abhari, 39, told AFP.
“I saw President Trump’s message, and wondered, Will Iran really go back to the Stone Age in two or three weeks?”
She had come to the park alone to “to be around people, recharge and feel better”.
On an embroidered picnic blanket laid out on the grass, a group of friends chatted over tea as food simmered gently on a gas stove.
Nearby, a man fanned skewers sizzling on a barbecue grill while a couple played badminton.
(AP: Vahid Salemi)
“It [war] doesn’t disrupt anything at all for us. We are living a normal life … We are not afraid of war,” said metalworker Hakim Rahimi, 43.
But the joyful scenes were far from the reality of the war, with blasts rocking neighbourhoods and families mourning the dead elsewhere in the city.
Reporting with AFP
6h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 12:54amEnergy minister says 53 fuel shipments en route to Australia
(ABC News: Callum Flinn)
Energy Minister Chris Bowen says 53 ships carrying fuel are on their way to Australia and are expected to arrive this month.
He says there’s 3.7 billion litres of fuel on board and that ships are coming from refineries around the world, including in Asia, the United States and Mexico.
Australia and Singapore have signed a joint commitment to continue the trade of fuels, with the government seeking to land similar deals with other Asian nations.
Bowen says the measures will help alleviate concerns about fuel supply chains.
“Asian refineries don’t just supply Australia, they supply Asia too. That’s how it generally works,” Bowen says.
“Of course, we’ve been in constant contact, the prime minister, the foreign minister and I with our respective counterparts, and we’re very pleased with the way those conversations have gone.”
6h agoFri 3 Apr 2026 at 12:45am
Iranian soccer team makes World Cup progress as war darkens trip to US
(AP: File)
A first face-to-face meeting between FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Iranian officials since the Iran war began has made genuine progress in soccer diplomacy at the end of a fraught month in Iran.
The Iranian soccer federation’s upbeat readout of the meeting in Türkiye made no mention of moving World Cup games to Mexico — a subject Infantino has repeatedly shut down for the past two weeks.
Infantino also offered tangible help for the squad to prepare for the World Cup in the next two months.
Most Iranian players are with clubs in the national league that have closed during the war.
The war immediately cast doubt on Iran’s ability and willingness to fulfill a World Cup entry it secured in March 2025 as one of the best teams in Asia.
Iran’s World Cup hosts in Arizona said this week that they were pressing on with training camp upgrades plus local and federal security plans, echoing the “stick to the schedule” mantra FIFA has used.
The Iranian delegation is due in Tucson no later than June 10.
Reporting with AP