US–Iran war live updates: Australia deploys E-7A Wedgetail, missiles to United Arab Emirates over Iran threat

French President Emmanuel Macron has travelled by helicopter to a navy ship in the Mediterranean to meet with naval personnel as conflict in the Middle East rages.

Mr Macron could be seen being welcomed on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, before going below deck to meet and speak to the crew.

The carrier had been deployed following the first US-Israeli strike in Iran.

“We are putting ourselves in a position to last,” Mr Macron said on board the ship. He predicted the carrier may be in place for several weeks. After that, it could be moved to the Strait of Hormuz.

The Albanese Government will convene an urgent roundtable in Canberra amid concerns over the impact the US-Israel-Iran war has had on fuel reserves.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen on Tuesday sought to assure the public that Australia’s fuel reserves remain at pre-war levels despite rising prices at the pump caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

Global oil prices saw a dramatic reversal overnight, plunging from a peak of $US120 to $US90 per barrel as market volatility continues.

The sharp decline has sparked immediate calls from consumer advocacy groups and motorists for Australian service stations to pass these savings on to the bowser.

Speaking alongside the Prime Minister in Canberra on Tuesday, Mr Bowen said he, with Minister for Agriculture Julie Collins and Industry Minister Tim Ayres, would meet with peak bodies representing affected industries.

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The Australian stock market has staged a solid comeback after Donald Trump signalled overnight that the US and Israel’s campaign of attacks against Iran could soon be at an end.

His comments to a reporter from US news network CBS saw the oil price plunge by about $US30 a barrel, sparking a late rally among US markets in the final hour of trade and lifting Australian equity futures more than 2 per cent.

The S&P/ASX200 had climbed almost 1.8 per cent after the first 30 minutes to 8749.5 — still well off last week’s highs of more than 9160 points.

The index was smashed almost 2.9 per cent lower on Monday to 8599, wiping more than $90 billion in value from Australia’s top 200 companies and taking losses for the past five trading days since last Tuesday to more than 6 per cent.

Monday’s was the biggest one day sell-off on the Aussie market since Mr Trump announced his so-called Liberation Day tariffs last April.

Donald Trump said he “didn’t want to say” that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, the son of the killed Iranian Supreme Leader, had a target on his back, however, claimed Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was basically the same as Ali Khamenei.

“I was disappointed. We think it’s going to lead to more of the same problem for the country,” Mr Trump said.

Mr Trump confirmed he preferred the idea of someone internal taking over leadership of the country, citing what occurred in Iraq when all of the leadership was fired: “They turned into ISIS.”

The US President said that “enough”, in terms of winning in Operation Epic Fury, meant “where they’re not going to be starting the following day to develop a nuclear weapon”.

“When I can see they will no longer have any capacity, for a very long time, to develop weaponry that could be used against the United State, Israel or any of our allies, we have great allies in the Middle East.”

Mr Trump said that Operation Epic Fury was ahead of schedule, saying that the war would be over “soon”.

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President Donald Trump has claimed the Iranian regime was attempting to rapidly develop nuclear weapons, while establishing an enormous arsenal of ballistic missiles, to threaten the US after Operation Midnight Hammer in 2025.

Mr Trump said credible information from his inner circle showed that Iran was attempting to continue with nuclear weapon development at another site, following the B2 bombing in 2025 that saw 14 30,000-pound GBU Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) dropped on three key Iranian sites.

“The situation was very quickly approaching the point of no return, and the United States found it intolerable, in my opinion... I thought they were going to attack us.

“If you notice, they did something that was very stupid, very foolish. They (Iran) attacked their neighbours.

“Their neighbours came onto our side and started attacking them (Iran).”

Mr Trump said all he was doing now was keeping a promise he made in 2015 when he announced he would run for the US presidency: “I will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons”.

He added he will not allow Iran to keep the world hostage to their terror.

President Donald Trump says the US has almost wiped out every Iranian force, including a new claim that 51 Iranian Navy ships have now been destroyed.

“We continue to target Iran’s drone and missile capabilities. Their drones are way down,” Mr Trump said.

“Their drone manufacturing’s been hit starting today. We know all of the places they manufacture their drone and they are being hit one after another.

“Their missile capabilities are down to about 10 per cent, maybe less. We’re also hitting where they make missiles and where they deliver missiles to date.

“We’ve struck over 5000 targets to date. We’ve left some of the most important targets for later in case we need to do it. If we hit them, it’s going to take many years for them to be rebuilt.”

Mr Trump said some of the things that had not been hit yet included energy production.

The US President confirmed B2 bombers recently dropped “dozens of 2000-pound bombs” all over Iran, some targeting underground sites.

US President Donald Trump is speaking at an event before he gives an official update on Operation Epic Fury.

Speaking to a room of Republican Members, Mr Trump said “the world is witnessing the worth” of a record $US1 trillion investment in the US military.

“The world respects us right now more than they have ever respected us before,” Mr Trump said.

“Together with our Israeli partners, we are crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force.

“Iran’s drone and missile capabilities is being utterly demolished. The Navy is gone. It is all lying at the bottom of the ocean, 46 ships.

Mr Trump said that the US had already “won” in many ways, but that it has not yet “won enough”.

“We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all.”

US President Donald Trump is scheduled to give an update on the war with Iran at 8.30 AEDT.

Stay with us as we bring you the key updates from his address.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has told any Australians in the Middle East to leave “now”, if they plan to, warning that things will likely get worse quickly.

“There are many more Australians in the Middle East,” Senator Wong said.

“We encourage those who do wish to leave, do so now, do so while commercial flights are still available.

“I emphasise that DFAT has directed the departure of all dependents of officials posted to the United Arab Emirates.

“This is because the security situation is deteriorating, and it is likely to get worse before it gets better.”

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the deployment of an E-7A Wedgetail, and the sharing of air-to-air missiles was for “the defence of the countries of the Gulf”.

“It is for the defence of the countries of the Gulf, in particular the UAE, where there are a significant number of Australians that reside,” Mr Marles said.

“We are really pleased to be able to make this contribution.

“Speaking with my counterpart in the UAE they are also enormously grateful for the contribution we are making.”