Source : the age
Welcome to our live coverage of the war in the Middle East as it enters its second week with no clear end in sight. Here’s what you need to know today.
- Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, has been named Iran’s new leader following a meeting of the country’s senior clerical panel.
- The UN estimates the death toll in Iran has surpassed 1300.
- Oil prices have surged to their highest level since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, surpassing $US100 ($142) per barrel.
- The Australian sharemarket shed more than 4 per cent of its value as investors dumped stocks due to concerns about the global economy and the war in Iran.
- Foreign Minister Penny Wong ruled out Australian troops participating in a ground offensive, but says Australia could help Middle Eastern nations defend themselves against attacks by Iran.
- A seventh member of the American military has been killed in action in the US and Israel’s war with Iran, the Pentagon confirmed. The service member died from injuries sustained during an attack in Saudi Arabia on March 1, US Central Command said.
- The Israeli military said it struck and “destroyed” the headquarters of Iran’s air force in Tehran that operates its ballistic missile command, satellites, and unmanned vehicle array.
- Israeli airstrikes targeted key fuel depots in the Iranian capital on Saturday night, causing huge fires to engulf the facilities and sending clouds of thick, black smoke into the sky as acid rain fell on the city. Residents have been directed to stay inside amid high levels of toxic pollution, due to the risk of lung and skin disease from acid rain.
More than 300 people of various nationalities have been arrested for filming and circulating “misleading information and rumours” intended to “incite public concern” in Qatar, the country’s Ministry of Interior said on X.
The ministry said spreading disinformation, including material generated with AI, would create concern within the community and had prompted legal action against the alleged offenders. It said 313 people had been arrested.
“In this context, the Ministry of Interior stresses the importance of refraining from filming, publishing video clips or circulating rumours related to the current situation and calls on the public to obtain information solely from approved official sources,” the ministry said on X.
An Israeli strike on Gaza City killed three Palestinians and wounded several others, said the director of Shifa Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
Israeli attacks have continued across the strip since the start of Israel-US war on Iran.
More than 72,100 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military in the war sparked by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
AP
The Australian government must take precautions to protect members of the Iranian women’s soccer team, who face the prospect of returning to a country under fire and where they may be targeted by the regime.
The team lost its final group match at the Asian Cup yesterday and are on the Gold Coast contemplating a return to their home nation, though team organisers have not announced details for their departure.
Before their opening game loss to South Korea, the team remained silent during Iran’s national anthem, which was viewed by some in their homeland as an act of resistance and others as an expression of mourning over the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US airstrikes on February 28.
Iranian state television presenter Mohammad Reza Shahbazi last week said the team members were “wartime traitors” who must be “dealt with more severely” for not singing the anthem.
Footage filmed after the side’s match on Sunday night – their last of the tournament – shows at least one woman on the team bus appearing to make the international help sign to protesters outside, which prompted concern from advocates.
Iran’s exiled former crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, who has pitched himself as a transitional leader if the regime is overthrown, said the Australian government should “ensure [the team’s] safety and give them any and all needed support”.
“The members of the Iranian Women’s National Football Team are under significant pressure and ongoing threat from the Islamic Republic,” he said on X.
“As a result of their brave act of civil disobedience in refusing to sing the current regime’s national anthem, they face dire consequences should they return to Iran.”
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged more than 7 per cent today and other Asian markets also tumbled after oil prices soared to about $US114 a barrel due to disruptions from the war in the Middle East, which has cast a shadow over economies heavily dependent on imported crude and gas from the region.
The Nikkei was down just over 7 per cent at 51,694.16 shortly after trading began. South Korea’s Kospi sank 7.4 per cent to 5162.83 and shares in Australia and New Zealand fell more than 3 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 3.1 per cent and the Shanghai Composite index was down 1.7 per cent.
The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 2 per cent.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude, was trading at $US114.11, a surge of more than 20 per cent above closing prices last week.
AP
A least 100 people were killed and more than 100 injured in Israeli strikes on 12 locations across southern Lebanon yesterday, Lebanon’s health ministry said, according to a New York Times report.
Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said Israel’s attacks on his country had killed 394 people, including 83 children, in the past week.
Hezbollah launched 13 attacks on Israel and five on Israeli military in Lebanese territory on Sunday.
The Israel Defence Forces said this morning it had detected Iranian missiles headed for Israel and “defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat”. Israeli forces then announced it had launched additional strikes at Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this morning expressed his condolences for two Israeli soldiers who died in Lebanon.
Bahrain’s state media has reported at least 32 civilians have been injured after an Iranian drone attack near the country’s capital, Manama.
The Bahrain News Agency said the youngest person injured was a two-month-old, and a 17-year-old girl suffered significant injuries to her head. Four people were in a serious condition, the report said, citing the kingdom’s health ministry.
The Qatari prime minister has labelled Iran’s attacks on Gulf states as a betrayal and a “dangerous miscalculation”, while calling on the US to de-escalate its military campaign.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said his nation had tried to maintain good relations with Iran, The Telegraph reported.
“It is a big sense of betrayal,” the sheikh told the UK’s Sky News in his first interview since his country was attacked. “We made clear that we were not going to take part in any wars against our neighbours. All the attacks on the Gulf countries – we never expected this from our neighbour.”
The Qatari leader added: “We have always tried to preserve a good relationship with Iran, but the justifications and pretexts they are using are completely rejected.”
The British newspaper reported he called on the US to de-escalate within the region
“We would like to see … a diplomatic solution that addresses our concerns as well as their concerns,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron has urged the Iranian president to stop his country’s attacks on its neighbours, ahead of the French leader’s visit to Cyprus today after the European island was attacked last week.
In the first phone call Masoud Pezeshkian has held with a Western leader since the war began, Macron said he urged his Iranian counterpart to pursue a diplomatic solution and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“I stressed the need for Iran to immediately cease its strikes against countries in the region,” Macron said in a social media post.
In the past 12 hours, Macron has also spoken to the leaders of Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt and Azerbaijan, according to his social media.
The French president will visit Cyprus today after Iran targeted a British military base on the island last week. France sent warships to protect the EU member state after it was attacked, as did Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.
Saudi Arabia says it has fended off another attack on its Shaybah oil field, which has the capacity to produce 1 million barrels of crude a day.
A spokesperson for the kingdom’s defence ministry said: “Two drones were intercepted and destroyed in the empty quarter heading towards the Shaybah oil field.”
Another drone was intercepted an hour prior, the ministry said on social media.
Saudi Arabia was last week forced to halt operations at the Ras Tanura oil refinery, the country’s largest, following an Iranian drone strike in the area, and is seeking to divert barrels to its Red Sea ports for export after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Along with its crude production capacity, the Shaybah field has a natural gas liquids recovery plant of 2.4-billion standard cubic feet per day, according to the website of state producer Saudi Aramco.
Four more drones on track for the oil field were shot down yesterday.
With Bloomberg
The Australian sharemarket plunged more than $110 billion in morning trade today after oil prices surged above $US107 a barrel as the war-battered Middle Eastern states, pummelled by the conflict in Iran, slowed production, closed refineries and shut down gas exports.
Crude prices blew past a landmark they last exceeded during the invasion of Ukraine. Brent was up from near $US70 a barrel last week to $US107 today. The expanded war includes areas critical to the production and movement of oil and gas in the Middle East.
Investors reacted swiftly sending the S&P/ASX 200 down 363.90 points, or 4.1 per cent, to 8487.10 at midday, wiping more than $110 billion off the value of the bourse.
The sell-off has been widespread, with all 11 industry sectors in the red. The index’s biggest stocks have plummeted, with BHP diving 6 per cent and Commonwealth Bank falling 3.9 per cent.
The escalating conflict is effectively shutting down shipping in the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast, where roughly a fifth of the world’s oil typically sails.
At the weekend, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait started reducing oil production. The cutbacks by the two OPEC members follow a swathe of others in the region. Iraq started holding back production last week as storage tanks started filling up, while Saudi Arabia shut its biggest refinery and Qatar closed the world’s largest liquefied natural gas export plant after drone attacks.
