Main Points
Key Reads
Trump says he is considering pulling out of Nato
US president Donald Trump has said he is considering pulling out of Nato after allies did not join his war with Iran.
Trump also claimed the UK does not have a navy and that its aircraft carriers “didn’t work”.
Asked whether he would reconsider the US’s membership of Nato, Trump told The Daily Telegraph: “Oh yes, I would say (it’s) beyond reconsideration.”
“I was never swayed by Nato. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”
Trump rebuked British prime minister Keir Starmer for refusing to get involved in the US-Israeli war against Iran, and suggested the Royal Navy was not ready.
“You don’t even have a navy. You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work,” he said.
Asked if Starmer should spend more on defence, Trump said: “I’m not going to tell him what to do. He can do whatever he wants. It doesn’t matter. All Starmer wants is costly windmills that are driving your energy prices through the roof.” – PA
Some photos are coming in from Beirut, showing the aftermath of overnight Israeli air strikes.
At least seven people were killed and 24 wounded in two Israeli strikes in the Beirut area, the Lebanese health ministry said on Wednesday, in attacks that hit vehicles in Beirut’s southern outskirts and in an area just south of the capital.
The strikes are the latest in an escalating Israeli offensive in Lebanon which has killed at least 1,200 people and displaced 1.2 million others. Lebanon was pulled into the war in the Middle East when Hizbullah fired rockets at Israel in solidarity with Tehran, two days after Iran was attacked by Israel and the United States.
Hizbullah’s attack prompted a new Israeli ground and air offensive.
Israel’s military said on Wednesday it carried out two separate strikes targeting a senior Hizbullah commander and another senior member of the Iran-aligned group in the Beirut area, but did not identify them or say whether they had been killed. – Reuters
Albanese says months ahead ‘may not be easy’ as he urges Australians to save fuel
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has warned the months ahead “may not be easy” because of the oil crisis caused by the Middle East war.
“No government can promise to eliminate the pressures that this war is causing,” he said in a rare national address. “I can promise we will do everything we can to protect Australia from the worst of it.”
He urged Australians not to panic buy fuel and to trade cars for public transport where possible.
“If you’re hitting the road, don’t take more fuel than you need, just fill up like you normally would. Think of others in your community, in the bush and in critical industries,” he said. – The Guardian
The National Bank of Kuwait said it is closing its headquarters for two days as the Gulf nation continues to face Iranian attacks.
The bank’s headquarters in the capital Kuwait City and a branch in Subhan, which is close to the airport, were closed “due to current developments and in the interest of everyone’s safety and business continuity”, it said in a statement.
It follows reports of an Iranian drone attack at Kuwait airport which struck fuel tanks at the site, triggering a large fire. – The Guardian
The Israeli military said a strike in central Iran killed a senior engineering officer of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Mahdi Vafaei, chief of engineering in the IRGC Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps, was killed in the strike in Mahallat on Tuesday.
The IDF claimed Vafaei led the “Iranian terror regime’s efforts to establish underground terrorist infrastructure sites for Hizbullah and the Assad Regime in Syria.
It said he “advanced underground projects across Lebanon and Syria” for two decades, including “dozens of underground projects in Lebanon that were used to store advanced weaponry”.
Disruptions to jet fuel supply expected from early May – Ryanair chief
Disruptions to jet fuel supply are expected from “early May” if the war continues beyond the end of April, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has said.
“The fuel companies are happy there won’t any disruption until early May. But if the war continues, we do run the risk of supply disruptions in Europe in May and June,” he said, speaking on Sky News on Wednesday.
“Obviously, we hope the war will finish sooner than that and that the risk to supply will be eliminated.”
O’Leary said Ryanair was “reasonably well hedged” on 80 per cent of its fuel but added it is paying almost double (at around $150 a barrel) on the other 20 per cent.
He said if the war ends and the Strait of Hormuz reopens by the end of this month, “then there’s no risk to supply”.
“Like everybody else in the industry, we hope that this war will end sooner rather than later,” he said.
Oil tanker in Qatar struck by Iranian missile
Qatar was targeted by three Iranian cruise missiles on Wednesday, Qatar’s ministry of defence has confirmed.
Its armed forces intercepted two of the missiles, while the third struck an oil tanker leased to QatarEnergy in northern waters.
The crew of 21 people were evacuated from the tanker and no injuries have been reported, the ministry said.
QatarEnergy, the world’s largest producer of liquefied natural gas, said there is “no impact on the environment as a result of this incident”.
Houthis claim responsibility for missile attack on Israel
Houthi forces in Yemen have claimed responsibility for a missile attack on southern Israel this morning, saying it was a joint operation with Iran and Hizbullah.
In a statement, the Houthi movement said it carried out its third missile attack in the conflict in conjunction with Iran and Lebanon’s Hizbullah.
The Houthis targeted “sensitive Israeli enemy targets” with a “barrage of ballistic missiles”, the Tehran-backed group said.
It threatened “further escalation” if Israel continues to attack Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
The statement comes about three hours after the Israeli military said a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis in Yemen at southern Israel was intercepted. No injuries were reported. – The Guardian
11-year-old in serious condition and 12 others wounded in central Israel after missile attack
Israel’s emergency medical service said an 11-year-old girl was in serious condition after a missile attack the military blamed on Iran and police said caused damage at several sites, reports AFP.
The military said it had identified missiles launched from Iran for the first time in about 20 hours, with air raid sirens activated across central Israel.
Another warning of incoming missile fire came less than an hour later, prompting alerts across large parts of northern and central Israel.
The Magen David Adom emergency medical service said an 11-year-old girl was seriously wounded by shrapnel in central Israel as a result of the first launch.
Spokesman Zaki Heller told Israeli TV that at least 13 others were also wounded, including a 13-year-old boy and a woman (36) in moderate condition, all from the same impact site.
Israeli media said cluster munitions, which explode mid-air and scatter bomblets across a wide area, were used in the attack. Iran and Israel have previously accused each other of using cluster bombs.
IDF working to intercept missiles from Iran
A number of missiles have been launched from Iran towards Israel on Wednesday morning, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
In several alerts posted on social media, the IDF warned those living in affected areas to enter a “protected space” and remain there until further notice.
It said defensive systems are operating to intercept the missiles.
One person killed by drone debris in UAE
One person has been killed after debris from an intercepted drone fell on a farm in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, state media said. The individual killed was a Bangladeshi national. – The Guardian
Strikes reported across Middle East as war rages
Large numbers of aerial attacks have been reported in various parts of the Middle East on Wednesday, with drones hitting fuel tanks at Kuwait’s international airport causing a big blaze and authorities in Bahrain reporting a fire at an undisclosed company facility from an Iranian assault.
A tanker was hit by an unknown projectile near the Qatari capital Doha causing damage to the hull at the waterline, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said, adding the crew were safe.
Explosions were heard in multiple areas of Tehran early Wednesday after US-Israeli air attacks, Iranian state media reported, adding that its air defences were activated.
Israel’s military said early on Wednesday it had carried out a “wide-scale wave of strikes” on Tehran. Separately, it said an Israeli military drone had been downed by a surface-to-air missile during operational activity in southern Lebanon overnight on Tuesday.
Shahid Haghani Port, Iran’s largest passenger terminal located in Bandar Abbas port on the Gulf, was hit by an overnight air strike but there were no casualties, the deputy governor Ahmad Nafisi told state media, calling it a “criminal” attack against civilian infrastructure.
Israel said early on Wednesday it had also struck a plant supplying Iran with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, to allegedly use in a chemical weapons programme.
Iran acknowledged the strike on Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied “hospital drugs” used in medical operations. The strike happened on Tuesday, both the Israelis and the Iranians said.
Gulf countries, some home to US bases, have been repeatedly fired on by Tehran during the US-Israeli war, with concerns mounting about Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz and ability to use the vital waterway, a conduit for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, as a bargaining chip.
Oil markets were subdued as trading resumed in Asia on Wednesday but stocks and bonds rallied at the start of the session on hopes of a de-escalation.
The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 2.7 per cent after a four-day losing streak as the Nikkei 225 jumped 3.9 per cent at one point.
Rubio says US should ‘re-examine’ Nato relationship
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said Washington could see the “finish line” in the Iran war, which is now in its fifth week, and the US will have to re-examine ties with Nato after the conflict.
“We can see the finish line. It’s not today, it’s not tomorrow, but it is coming,” Rubio told Fox News Channel’s Hannity show.
The war began on February 28th when the US and Israel attacked Iran. Tehran responded by launching its own attacks on Israel and Gulf states with US bases.
Joint US-Israeli strikes in Iran and Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions. The war has also raised oil prices and shaken global markets.
Rubio said there were messages being exchanged between Iran and the US and there is the potential to have a “direct meeting at some point” between the two sides.
“There are messages being exchanged, there are talks going on. There is the potential for direct meeting at some point,” Rubio said.
Donald Trump – who has offered shifting timelines and objectives for the war, ranging from toppling Iran’s government to weakening its military and regional influence – said on Tuesday the US could end its military attacks on Iran within two to three weeks.
Rubio said “that there’s nothing any government is doing, or any country in the world is doing now to help Iran that is in any way impeding our mission.”
He added Washington will have to re-examine its relations with Nato after the Iran war.
“Ultimately, that’s a decision for the president to make, and he’ll have to make it,” Rubio said.
“But I do think, unfortunately, we are going to have to re-examine whether or not this alliance that has served this country well for a while is still serving that purpose, or has it now become a one-way street where America is simply in a position to defend Europe, but when we need the help of our allies, they’re going to deny us basing rights, and they’re going to deny us overflight,” he added in reference to use of military bases.
European leaders have refused to get directly involved in military attacks against Iran.
Iran foreign minister in contact with Witkoff
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has acknowledged receiving direct messages from US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
In an interview with Al Jazeera aired late on Tuesday, he said: “I receive messages from Witkoff directly, as before, and this does not mean that we are in negotiations.
“We do not have any faith that negotiations with the US will yield any results. The trust level is at zero.”
Asked about a possible ground offensive by the US, Araghchi said “we are waiting for them.”
“We know very well how to defend ourselves,” he told the Qatar-based broadcaster. “In a ground war, we can do it even better. We are completely ready to confront any sort of ground attack. We hope they do not make such a mistake.”
Trump claims war will end in ‘two or three weeks
US president Donald Trump said securing the Strait of Hormuz is “not for us” and estimated that the US will be done attacking Iran in two to three weeks.
Trump said the US “will not have anything to do with” what happens in the strait, instead telling reporters on Tuesday that the responsibility for keeping the vital waterway open will rest with countries that rely on it.
The president said there is “no reason for us to do this”.
“That’s not for us. That’ll be for France. That’ll be for whoever’s using the strait,” Trump said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump lashed out at US allies such as the United Kingdom and France for not doing more to support the American efforts in the Iran war.
“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the USA won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!” he wrote.
Spain, which has emerged as Europe’s loudest critic of the war, said on Monday that it had closed its airspace for US planes involved in the conflict.
The White House said the president would deliver a prime-time address on Wednesday evening to update the public on the war.
