SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Thank you for joining our continued live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.
Here are the latest developments:
- Australians will get a total of 32¢ off the price of every litre of fuel, after the states and territories agreed on a deal to further reduce the excise using GST windfalls. The 5.7¢ cut adds to the already enacted 26.3¢ reduction, and will continue until June 30. It follows Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s rare address to the nation last night, urging Australians to go about the Easter weekend as normal.
- US President Donald Trump claimed American objectives were “nearing completion” in Iran, in a national address in which he promised to hit the Islamic Republic “extremely hard” and called a slain Iranian military officer an “evil genius”. Trump claimed the Strait of Hormuz would “just open up” once the war ends, and told allies to “take” the strait or buy US oil. Oil prices climbed while the Australian sharemarket retreated as Trump spoke, as investors were unimpressed by the address.
- Earlier, Trump claimed Iran had asked for a ceasefire. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, called Trump’s remarks about a ceasefire request “false and baseless”, Iranian state TV reported. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote to the American public today, arguing that his country had no enmity with the US and acted in self-defence. Pezeshkian said Iran had “the necessary will” to end this war – with certain guarantees.
- NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will visit Washington next week for what the military alliance called a “long-planned visit”, that comes after Trump blasted European allies over differences about the war. In an interview with the London Telegraph, Trump said he was thinking of withdrawing from the NATO alliance because of the lack of support from European leaders in the conflict.
Indonesia has condemned the new law passed by Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, approving the hanging of Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis.
It is one of a growing number of countries which have spoken out against the law, which treats individuals differently based on nationality.
“The law is a grave violation of international human rights and humanitarian law … which guarantees the right to life and the right to a fair trial,” Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“The government of Indonesia calls on Israel to immediately revoke the legislation and cease all actions that contravene international law, and to ensure the protection of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, including detainees.”
The ministry urged the global community, particularly the UN to “take firm measures to ensure the accountability and protection of Palestinian people”.
Asian sharemarkets have fallen following US President Donald Trump’s speech to the nation which gave no clear path out of the war.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.9 per cent to 52,731.94 in early trading. South Korea’s Kospi lost 3.6 per cent to 5281.22.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9 per cent to 25,056.42, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.5 per cent to 3928.30.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 is down 1.15 per cent about 2.55pm, while Taiwan’s Taiex was trading 1.1 per cent lower.
Meanwhile, the price of oil has continued to increase.
US President Donald Trump mischaracterised core elements of the American economy and stretched the facts in claiming to have toppled Iran’s government during his address to the nation delivered earlier today.
Here’s a look at some of his statements:
Claim: “Regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders’ deaths. They’re all dead. The new group is less radical and much more reasonable.”
Fact: Trump’s depiction of the people now in charge in Iran, after scores of senior leaders were killed in the war, stretches credulity.
Claim: “This murderous regime also recently killed 45,000 of their own people who were protesting in Iran.”
Fact: A death toll that high has not been verified. Respected US-based group HRANA, said it confirmed the deaths of just over 7000 people in the nationwide protests.
Claim: “We’re [the US] now totally independent of the Middle East, and yet we are there to help. We don’t have to be there. We don’t need their oil.”
Fact: It’s true that the United States is by far the world’s leading producer of oil and relies on the Persian Gulf for a fraction (8.5 per cent in 2025) of the oil it imports. But, as is obvious at US petrol pumps, that doesn’t mean it is unaffected by the turmoil in the Middle East. This is because oil is a commodity and its price is set in the global market, meaning increased commodity prices affect consumers.
Claim: “Obama gave them [Iran] $US1.7 billion in cash.”
Fact: The US treasury did pay Iran roughly that amount under Obama. But it was not a gift. Rather, it was money owed to the Iranians since the 1970s, when they paid the US $US400 million for military equipment that was never delivered because the government was overthrown and diplomatic relations ruptured.
AP
The Iranian regime believes it is in a strong position in the war and is not willing to engage with US negotiators over ending the conflict, The New York Times reported, citing US intelligence agency officials.
Numerous US intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not yet willing to negotiate and that Iranian officials do not believe US President Donald Trump is serious about negotiations, the Times reported.
Iran’s Foreign Minister yesterday told Al Jazeera that although he was in communication with US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, he was not negotiating with him.
According to the Times report, Iranian officials want to see that the White House is serious about ending the war, not just facilitating a temporary ceasefire.
The prime minister has defended his address to the nation last night, which has been criticised by the opposition and on social media for a lack of substance, saying it was an opportunity to reassure Australians in a fragmented media environment.
“One of the things that’s occurred in recent weeks during this global crisis is the amount of misinformation that’s out there,” Albanese said.
He said people used to get consistent information from the news, but social media had disrupted that norm.
“Now they’re getting it on their device. It’s telling them all sorts of things that aren’t true,” Albanese said.
“So I took the opportunity to talk directly to the nation. That is more important than ever because the nature of noise that is out there, the conspiracy theories that are out there, which propagate, which we can’t do anything about.”
Democrats are criticising Donald Trump’s prime-time address to Americans on the war in Iran as incoherent and as doing little to answer basic questions asked by constituents.
Senator Mark Warner Trump owed Americans more answers about the conflict, which has driven up petrol prices “alongside rising prices for diesel, fertiliser, aluminum, and other essentials, with consequences that will continue to ripple through the economy for a long time to come”.
Senator Chris Murphy said the “speech was grounded in a reality that only exists in Donald Trump’s mind.” Murphy added “no one in America, after listening to that speech, knows whether we are escalating or deescalating”.
“It’s scary to have president this divorced from reality.”
AP
Australians will get a total of 32¢ off the price of every litre of fuel after the states and territories agreed to GST deal, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
“We have cut the fuel excise in half for three months, cutting the tax on petrol and diesel by 26¢ per litre, and this morning, importantly, we have reached agreement with the states and territories to deliver a further cut in the fuel tax by returning their GST windfall to Australians,” he told the National Press Club.
“This will mean a combined saving of 32¢ on every litre. The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has already signed that change in the law, because we want this added relief to start showing up at petrol stations straight away for our truckies.”
There was very little in Trump’s speech that was new. It was mostly a summary of how bad Iran was, how successful the US military campaign has been, and assurances that the war is “nearing completion”.
Like the speeches delivered by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Britain’s Keir Starmer in the past 24 hours, it could have been an email. That doesn’t mean it was a failure.
For the average person who isn’t hooked on Trump’s every word, the address offered great reassurance. America is winning, it will be over soon, and it will be worth any short-term pain.
“This is a true investment in your children and your grandchildren’s future,” Trump said in his most viewer-friendly line. “They were the bully of the Middle East, but they’re the bully no longer.”
For those who yearn for more detail, the pickings were slim. Trump repeated his estimate that the war would last another two to three weeks, during which he would bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages, where they belong”. The core objectives, he said, were “nearing completion”. Meanwhile, negotiations would apparently continue.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has cast doubt over what purpose a continued war in Iran would achieve, in an address he is delivering to the National Press Club in Canberra.
Albanese said Australia supported the United States’ initial strikes on Iran which it said were to prevent Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon, but said the ongoing war was hurting Australians domestically.
“Iran’s air force is degraded. Its navy is degraded. Its military industrial base is degraded, and so too is its capacity to launch missiles. That is a good thing. And now those objectives have been realised, it is not clear what more needs to be achieved, or what the end point looks like,” he said.
“What is clear is that the longer the war goes on, the more significant the impact on the global economy will be.”
A deal has been struck to further reduce the excise on fuels using GST windfalls, WA Premier Roger Cook has confirmed.
In a statement, Cook said state and territory leaders this morning agreed to fund a further 5.7¢ reduction in the fuel excise to offset the windfall GST gains from higher fuel prices.
The decision was made at a meeting of the Council for the Australian Federation, which Cook chaired. The extra excise relief comes on top of the already enacted 26.3¢ reduction.
Cook said the higher-than-expected GST revenues from higher fuel costs were estimated by state and territory Treasury departments to be about $400 million. The 32¢ total reduction in excise will last until June 30.
Cook said the decision would deliver real assistance to households and businesses.
“State and territory leaders were united today in our desire to assist the prime minister to deliver real relief at the bowser,” he said.
“The next few months may be difficult, but we’ll get through it with the community, industry and all levels of government working together.”
