US-Iran war updates: Donald Trump’s new timeline before power plant obliteration, Aussies petrol prices cut

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has also insisted Australia’s relationship with the US continues to be strong.

US President Donald Trump has blasted Australia, along with NATO and other traditional supporters, several times for not sending ships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Australia says the US hasn’t formally asked for any such assistance.

Senator Wong said the US and Australia remained strong allies.

“We obviously may have differences of views on some issues, but fundamentally we work very closely together across those areas where we have shared interests. The US remains our most important strategic partner,” she said.

However, she didn’t think Mr Trump’s stated aim of regime change in Iran was going to be successful.

“What we have said is that – and I said this from the very first day – we didn’t see the prospect of successful regime change being imposed externally... Historically, we’ve seen that trying to impose regime change from outside rarely works,” she said.

Australia has stepped up its calls for the US to de-escalate its war with Iran as the economic hit grows from Iran choking the Strait of Hormuz.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia wanted to see a return to negotiations and de-escalation, echoing the message from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday.

“This conflict is having such an enormous effect on global energy markets and on the global economy, of course, on the Australian community,” Senator Wong said on Tuesday morning.

The Foreign Minister bluntly ruled out any prospect of Australia putting boots on the ground in the region, despite the US readying to send thousands of troops.

“Right from the beginning of this conflict, we made clear what our position was, and that is that we would support defensive capability, but not an offensive capability,” she said.

“So, our posture is defensive, and we are responding to the fact that the countries of the region have seen Iran rain missiles down on them.”

On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the Government would cut the fuel excise in half for three months.

“The halving of the fuel excise will reduce the cost of fuel by 26.3 cents per litre,” Mr Albanese said.

However, Aussies will need to wait until Wednesday, April 1, before the reduction kicks in.

The reduction might not be instant. Petrol stations may keep their pre-cut prices until they next top up stocks with the discounted rate.

The Government put fuel providers on notice, saying the ACCC will closely monitor prices to ensure the lower excise rate is fully passed on to consumers.

US President Donald Trump has published an interview with him and Barbra Walters from 1987, where he talked about his desire for the US to take Iran’s oil.

“Let them have Iran, you take their oil,” Mr Trump said.

When pushed on how he would do this, he said the US would have a war in Iran for “being weak”.

“You are going to have a war, and it is going to start in the Middle East,” Mr Trump said.

In the package, Mr Trump said the US should take “a big oil installation” in Iran to make back the money the US has lost because of Iran.

Iran’s security commission has approved a plan for tolls to be imposed on vessels that enter or exit the Strait of Hormuz, according to local media reports.

Under the new plan, reported on by state media outlet Fars news agency, Iran would retain its “sovereign role” over the strait, tolling permitted ships but banning US or Israeli ships.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that “security arrangements to safeguard the waterway, measures to ensure maritime navigation safety and financial regulations” would be imposed, other than for the banned “passage for vessels belonging to the United States and Israel”.

If the plan proceeds, it appears at first that Australia could enter the strait, however, the US could pressure allies not to engage.

US President Donald Trump had given Iran a 10-day extension to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz before he orders the obliteration of Iranian power plants.

Mr Trump claims he is speaking with the “new regime”, a claim Iran’s parliament speaker has rejected. Doubling down on his claims, Mr Trump issued a grim warning to Iran, saying he is ready to order total destruction, giving the new deadline of “shortly”.

“The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched’.”

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