SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Welcome to our rolling coverage of the Middle East conflict and its global impacts.
Here’s a recap of key developments:
- Reports say the US, Iran and regional mediators are meeting to flesh out the terms of a 45-day ceasefire that could eventually lead to a permanent end to the conflict. The report by US-based agency Axios is yet to be verified by other outlets.
- US President Donald Trump issued an expletive-laden ultimatum to rain “hell” on “crazy bastards” in Iran if it did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday.
- Iran, via a foreign ministry spokesperson, later rejected this ultimatum. It said the threat amounted to “an express public incitement for war crimes and crimes against humanity” and would retaliate in kind if its energy infrastructure was hit.
- Trump later told Fox News that there’s a “good chance” of a deal being reached, as negotiations were taking place.
- Iran’s parliament speaker warned that Trump’s “reckless moves” and rhetoric would mean “our whole region is going to burn”.
- New details have emerged of the daring rescue of a second airman after an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet was shot down by Iran. This morning, Iran claimed the US had to bomb its own planes and personnel to “prevent embarrassment for President Trump.”
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Trump said he will hold a news conference at the Oval Office at 1pm on Monday (Tuesday AEDT).
- Back home, Australia has locked in another month’s worth of fuel, as consumers and motorists brace for higher prices at the bowser and checkout. Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the nation originally had supply until mid-April, but that had now been secured into May.
Kuwait’s oil sector came under a fresh barrage of attacks overnight as drone strikes sparked fires at operational facilities, including a refining complex and petrochemical plant, hours after the country’s energy headquarters was set ablaze by unmanned drones.
The attacks have continued into Monday, with the nation in the north of the Persian Gulf reporting twice in several hours that it was repelling missiles and “hostile drones”.
The renewed hits to petroleum and petrochemical facilities caused significant damage as emergency and fire response teams worked to contain conflagrations at several sites, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said in a statement. There were no reported injuries.
Those attacks followed hits on KPC’s headquarters, located in the Shuwaikh area of the country’s capital, which also houses the oil ministry. That fire has since been extinguished.
Rescuers recovered two bodies from the rubble of a residential building in the northern Israel city of Haifa after it was hit by an Iranian missile on Sunday, Israeli media reported.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on a group of people in Gaza City killed one person and injured others, according to health officials at the Shifa hospital, where the casualties arrived.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Gaza Strip has seen near-daily Israeli fire and strikes since a fragile ceasefire was reached in October 2025, and more than 700 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to figures from the Gaza Health Ministry.
Reuters, AP
Donald Trump began Easter Sunday as he begins most days – on social media.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” he wrote on his Truth Social account. “There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!”
The outburst speaks to a commander-in-chief who is flailing and increasingly backed into a corner.
The Venezuela-style deal with a compliant underling has not materialised, despite Trump extending his own deadline by 10 days. He will be forced to escalate an unpopular war that he would probably rather just end.
The US, Iran and a group of regional mediators are discussing the terms for a potential 45-day ceasefire that could lead to a permanent end to the war, Axios reported on Sunday, citing four sources with knowledge of the talks.
The White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment to verify the report.
The mediators are discussing the terms of a two-phased deal, the report said, adding that the first phase would be a potential 45-day ceasefire during which a permanent end to the war would be negotiated.
The second phase would be an agreement on ending the war, and the ceasefire could be extended if additional time was required for talks, the report said.
Reuters
A few hours ago, a series of airstrikes hit Iran’s capital, Tehran.
Explosions rang out into the night, though it wasn’t immediately clear what had been struck. The sound of low-flying fighter jets could be heard off and on for hours.
The strikes targeted the Sharif University of Technology.
Iranian media reported the strikes and damage to buildings there, as well as a natural gas distribution site next to the campus.
Iran’s foreign ministry has vowed to retaliate if Donald Trump makes good on his threat to target the country’s energy infrastructure.
The US president made the threat in a foul-mouthed tirade on his social media account, which he said the American military would carry out if Iran did not open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping by Tuesday.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Trump’s threat amounted to “an express public incitement for war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
“These threats are an indication of a criminal mindset,” he said.
Doctors Without Borders, the international aid group known by its French acronym MSF, said Israel’s strike on Beirut’s Jnah neighbourhood on Sunday hit “a densely populated residential area … only metres from Rafik Hariri Public Hospital”.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the strike, which came without a warning, killed four people and wounded 39.
“We are seeing elderly people and adolescents arriving with critical injuries to the head, chest and abdomen, including shrapnel wounds,” Luna Hammad, an MSF medical co-ordinator working in the hospital, said in a statement.
“When strikes hit crowded residential areas without warning, the consequences are severe, both in human casualties and in hospitals’ capacity to respond.”
Iran’s joint military command spokesperson says the US had to bombard its own military aircraft and personnel to “prevent embarrassment for President Trump and the hollow image of its military”.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari said several American military aircraft entered Iranian airspace to carry out a rescue operation for the pilot of a downed US fighter jet, but that Iranian fighters and air defence systems struck the aircraft and forced them to make an emergency landing in an area south of Isfahan.
A regional intelligence official, who was briefed on the covert mission and who spoke anonymously, said the US blew up two transport planes that were struck and downed by Iranian fighters due to a technical malfunction.
The official said the US was forced to bring in additional aircraft to complete the rescue.
Over the weekend, the US pulled off a daring rescue of two aviators whose fighter jet was shot down by Iran, plucking the pilot from behind enemy lines before setting off a complicated extraction of the second service member who hid deep in the mountains as Tehran called for Iranians to help capture him.
AP
Australian motorists are facing a prolonged era of high petrol prices even if the United States ended the war on Iran tomorrow, as fuel companies and experts warn the damage to global energy markets has been so severe that it will outlast the conflict.
The cost of regular unleaded in Australia was averaging between $1.66 and $1.80 a litre earlier this year, but that average is now beyond $2.50 a litre.
US President Donald Trump has attempted to soothe worries about the soaring cost of living across the world by suggesting a US withdrawal from Iran would immediately deflate crude oil and fuel prices.
Iran has used various social media accounts to troll US President Donald Trump following his threat on Truth Social.
Using accounts of various Iranian embassies around the world, Iran has hit back with a range of posts and memes in response to the Trump’s threat, primarily on social media platform X.
The account of Iran’s embassy in the UK, for example, posted a screenshot of Trump’s ultimatum, captioned with the Mark Twain quote: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
The trolling follows Trump’s demand that Iran open the Strait of Hormuz, and his promise to target civilian infrastructure if Iran did not do so by Tuesday.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
“You’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!”
