SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Welcome to our rolling coverage of events across the Middle East after the US and Israel launched an attack on Iran over the weekend.
If you’re just joining us, here’s the latest in the escalating crisis.
- The Israeli military says it has begun strikes against Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Explosions were heard in the south of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, a known Hezbollah stronghold, after Hezbollah fired missiles across the border earlier today.
- In a new video message posted this morning, US President Donald Trump pledged to avenge the deaths of three Americans killed in Kuwait overnight, and called on members of the Iranian military to “surrender or face certain death”. He predicted there would be more US casualties before the conflict ends, but has given no firm indication of how long the military campaign will last. Earlier, he said the conflict might last more than four weeks.
- Trump also claimed this morning the attacks sank nine Iranian naval ships and killed 48 Iranian leaders. Iran retaliated with a missile strike on a residential building in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, killing nine people. American officials say US and Israeli joint forces have hit more than 2000 targets, while Iran has struck 27 targets across eight countries.
- The leaders of Britain, France and Germany say they are ready to defend their interests in the region after “indiscriminate and disproportionate” missile attacks by Iran. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also said he had agreed to a request from the US to use British bases to conduct defensive operations. “It is my duty to protect British lives,” he said in a social media video.
- The death toll from a US-Israeli strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran on Saturday was at 165, including children and adults. The school is reportedly next to a military installation.
- Reactions to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have reverberated around the world. While Iranians in Turkey marched on the US embassy in Istanbul in protest and mourned Khamenei’s death, Iranians in other parts of the world celebrated. Iran’s foreign minister said a new leader could be chosen “in a day or two”.
- Flights in and out of the region have been halted or cancelled due to the conflict, with more than 20,000 flight delays and disruptions reported. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Australian government could not guarantee repatriation flights to bring home Australians stranded in the region, as most planes remained grounded.
- Smartraveller now advises Australians “do not travel” to most destinations in the Middle East. This includes Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Wong urged permanent residents and their immediate family members in Israel and Iran to register on DFAT’s registration portal to receive direct updates from the government.
Read more on the US-Israel-Iran war:
Iran will not negotiate with the United States, said the Islamic Republic’s security chief, as Tehran continues to suffer strikes from US.
“We will not negotiate with the United States,” security chief Ali Larijani said in a post on X, in response to a report that Iran is trying to restart negotiations with the White House.
Larijani was a close adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and was reportedly named by the Ayatollah as his successor.
Federal authorities are investigating whether a mass shooting outside a bar in Austin, Texas early on Sunday was a reaction to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, people familiar with the investigation told the Bloomberg news service.
Three people were killed and 14 others wounded shortly before 2am (Austin time) when a gunman opened fire in the city’s downtown entertainment district. Police officers shot and killed the suspect after confronting him near the scene, officials said.
The attack began when a large sport-utility vehicle circled the block several times near Buford’s bar. The driver rolled down his window and fired a pistol at patrons gathered outside on the patio and footpath.
The shooter then drove west, parked, exited the vehicle with a rifle and continued shooting at people walking nearby, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said. Officers, already staged in the area as part of routine weekend staffing, responded within about 55 seconds and encountered the shooter at an intersection, where they shot him.
People familiar with the investigation said a Koran was recovered from the vehicle and that he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt bearing the words “Property of Allah”.
Seventeen people were treated, according to Austin-Travis County emergency management service chief Rob Luceritz. Three were pronounced dead at the scene and 14 were transported to hospitals, including three in critical condition. Medics began treating patients within 57 seconds of the first call, Luceritz said.
Alex Dorne, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio field office, said investigators found “indicators on the subject and in his vehicle” pointing to a “potential nexus to terrorism”. He said it was too early to determine the shooter’s motive.
The suspect has been identified Ndiaga Diagne, 52. Born in Senegal, he had been in the US since 2000, previously lived in New York and was a naturalised US citizen. He also had a documented history of mental illness.
Investigators are reviewing evidence and background information as they work to determine whether the attack was ideologically motivated.
Bloomberg
As missiles rained down on their home country, many of London’s Iranians gathered and dared to dream of a brighter future.
However, anti-war protesters on the other side of the city demonstrated against the attack, believing it will lead to death and chaos, citing Afghanistan and Iraq as examples of America’s poor history in establishing lasting peace.
Any mosques holding ceremonies honouring Iran’s slain leader should be investigated by police for supporting terrorist group the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry says.
“We cannot allow terrorists to be glorified in our country or for such actions to occur without consequence,” Alex Ryvchin said on X. “We have seen where brazen support for terrorism and glorification of violence can take our country.”
Meanwhile, NSW Premier Chris Minns condemned as “atrocious” plans by a prayer hall to hold a vigil for Khamenei.
At least one Islamic Centre in Melbourne’s west offered its condolences for Khamenei publicly on social media and planned to honour him at a service last night.
Khamenei’s death has been widely celebrated by the Iranian diaspora in Australia.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has called an emergency cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace in Beirut for 8am local time (5pm AEDT) on Monday, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The agency reported cabinet would discuss “the developments since midnight, their repercussions, and to take the necessary measures”.
Israel has launched attacks on Lebanon, which it says it is targeted at leaders of Iran-backed Hezbollah. The Israeli military has urged people in almost 50 villages in Lebanon to evacuate ahead of possible strikes.
The US-Israeli assault on Iran has oil industry analysts pondering their worst-case scenarios, all centred on a narrow strip of water in the Middle East.
The Strait of Hormuz is, at its narrowest point, only 33 kilometres wide, with shipping lanes three kilometres wide in either direction. It’s the critical choke point in the global oil industry, with about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and roughly one-third of its LNG passing through it each day.
If it were to be closed to shipping for any length of time, it would create a crisis for the global oil industry of a magnitude not experienced for decades, with $US100-a-barrel oil prices only the jump-off point for where prices might spike. That’s the nightmare scenario for oil supplies and the global economy.
In these first few days of the conflict, despite Iran targeting several tankers and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard warning that “no ship is allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz”, the strait hasn’t been closed and some oil tankers have passed through it, although there are more than 150 oil and LNG tankers that have anchored in the open waters outside the strait, waiting to see how events unfold.
The Iranians don’t, however, have to sink tankers or mine the strait to effectively close the waters to commercial shipping. Already, rates for chartering oil tankers to carry Middle Eastern oil and gas have begun spiking, and insurance premiums for the tankers and their cargoes are surging. What the threat of missiles might not do, economics probably will.
How disruptive the conflict might be to the world’s oil supply and pricing probably depends on how long the conflict lasts and how widely it spreads.
Read the full story here.
An “Asian worker” has been killed and two people injured in a fire in Bahrain after debris from an intercepted missile started a blaze on a foreign ship.
“A fire broke out on a foreign ship in Salman Industrial City, as a result of falling debris from an intercepted missile,” Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said.
“The fire resulted in the death of an Asian worker and serious injuries to two others. The fire has been brought under control and extinguished.”
Britain’s Defence Ministry says a suspected drone has hit its military base at Akrotiri, Cyprus.
It said there were no casualties from the suspected strike which occurred at midnight in Cyprus. It did not provide further details.
British service personnel stationed on the island are said to have received an alert warning of a “security threat” and urging them to remain indoors.
Some reports suggested the explosions might have been caused by missiles fired from Lebanon.
If launched from Lebanon, the potential attack is likely to have been orchestrated by Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy group.
RAF Akrotiri is Britain’s main air base for operations in the Middle East and is a British sovereign territory.
There was no immediate comment from the Cyprus government.
With AP
The Israeli military has urged people in almost 50 villages in Lebanon to evacuate ahead of possible strikes, the Associated Press reports.
The warnings come after the Israeli Defence Forces said it had begun strikes against Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah across Lebanon.
Explosions were heard earlier in the south of Beirut, which is a known Hezbollah stronghold.
AP
Welcome to our rolling coverage of events across the Middle East after the US and Israel launched an attack on Iran over the weekend.
If you’re just joining us, here’s the latest in the escalating crisis.
- The Israeli military says it has begun strikes against Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Explosions were heard in the south of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, a known Hezbollah stronghold, after Hezbollah fired missiles across the border earlier today.
- In a new video message posted this morning, US President Donald Trump pledged to avenge the deaths of three Americans killed in Kuwait overnight, and called on members of the Iranian military to “surrender or face certain death”. He predicted there would be more US casualties before the conflict ends, but has given no firm indication of how long the military campaign will last. Earlier, he said the conflict might last more than four weeks.
- Trump also claimed this morning the attacks sank nine Iranian naval ships and killed 48 Iranian leaders. Iran retaliated with a missile strike on a residential building in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, killing nine people. American officials say US and Israeli joint forces have hit more than 2000 targets, while Iran has struck 27 targets across eight countries.
- The leaders of Britain, France and Germany say they are ready to defend their interests in the region after “indiscriminate and disproportionate” missile attacks by Iran. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also said he had agreed to a request from the US to use British bases to conduct defensive operations. “It is my duty to protect British lives,” he said in a social media video.
- The death toll from a US-Israeli strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran on Saturday was at 165, including children and adults. The school is reportedly next to a military installation.
- Reactions to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have reverberated around the world. While Iranians in Turkey marched on the US embassy in Istanbul in protest and mourned Khamenei’s death, Iranians in other parts of the world celebrated. Iran’s foreign minister said a new leader could be chosen “in a day or two”.
- Flights in and out of the region have been halted or cancelled due to the conflict, with more than 20,000 flight delays and disruptions reported. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Australian government could not guarantee repatriation flights to bring home Australians stranded in the region, as most planes remained grounded.
- Smartraveller now advises Australians “do not travel” to most destinations in the Middle East. This includes Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Wong urged permanent residents and their immediate family members in Israel and Iran to register on DFAT’s registration portal to receive direct updates from the government.
Read more on the US-Israel-Iran war:
