Iran news and live updates: Pete Hegseth declares America ‘didn’t start this war but we’re finishing it’

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has confirmed that missiles launched from Lebanon were fired by Hezbollah, according to Hebrew-language reports cited by The Times of Israel.

The strike marks the first time the Iran-backed group has targeted Israel since a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect in November 2024. The truce had largely held for months following a period of sustained cross-border exchanges.

The escalating war with Iran prompted investors to dump travel and airline stocks after the Australian stock market opened on Monday, with five major airports closed across the Middle East.

Shares in national airline Qantas slumped 10 per cent at the open to $8.92 as Iranian strikes on Dubai Airport and across the Middle East’s key transport hubs unleashed global travel chaos.

Leisure and corporate travel bellwether Flight Centre dropped 6 per cent as investors bet the conflict could drag out for weeks or even months. Tech stocks also dived again as investors abandoned risk in favour of government bonds, cash, or hard assets.

After the first hour of trade, the S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.4 per cent, with the Australian dollar 0.8 per cent lower to US70.6¢.

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Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, says China and Russia may be in a weaker position to cause trouble as a result of the US strikes on Iran.

Speaking exclusively to The Nightly, Ambassador Bolton said Russia and China, which have deepened their cooperation since President Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, had suffered significant setbacks with the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the decapitation of Iranian leadership.

Mr Bolton, who has been a strident critic of Mr Trump since departing as one of his many national security advisers in the first administration, praised the US President’s decision to strike Tehran alongside Israel on Saturday.

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Foreign Minister Penny Wong says she hasn’t been in contact with US counterparts amid their joint strikes with Israel in Iran.

Their offensive has prompted Iran to hit several other nations in the Middle East with retaliatory attacks.

“We have had discussions or engagement as is usual at officials’ level,” Senator Wong said.

“I haven’t spoken to (US) Secretary (Marco) Rubio and I wouldn’t expect to.

“We are not central to these issues in the Middle East.

“We understand the reasons for the actions that have been taken and we support action to ensure Iran does not ever obtain a nuclear weapon.”

Smartraveller has advised Australians not to travel to most destinations in the Middle East.

This includes Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Australians should reconsider the need to travel to Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australians should closely monitor events and local media, check directly with their travel agent or airlines to confirm their plans, review their travel insurance to understand what is covered and follow Smartraveller for the latest advice and subscribe for updates.

“Australians overseas should be prepared for serious travel disruptions in the days ahead due to the conflict in the Middle East,” she said.

“We understand this will be a challenging time for many people.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has activated its 24/7 Crisis Centre to provide consular support to Australians in the region.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says about 115,000 Australians are believed to be in the Middle East amid the Iranian conflict.

Thousands of flights have been disrupted across the world since the onset of US-Israel strikes on Iran, with Senator Wong also noting about 11,000 Australians had been coming in and out of Australia via Etihad, Emirates and Qatar airlines.

“On estimates, we have about 115,000 Australians in the region. So, there are a lot of Australians in the region,” she said.

“My first priority is to do everything we can to keep Australians safe. Obviously, it’s very difficult at the moment for the government to provide a great deal of assistance in circumstances where flights are being cancelled, disrupted and airspace is closed.”

She urged people in the region to register on the DFATs online portal which was launched on Sunday.

The UK has authorised the use of British military bases in the Middle East following a request from the US.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the UK is “not joining these strikes” on Iran but it would provide the bases for “specific and limited defence purposes”.

“Our partners in the Gulf have asked us to do more to defend them,” he said.

“The only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source in their storage depots or the launchers which are used to fire the missiles.

“The US has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose. We have taken the decision to accept this request.”

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Donald Trump says the deaths of at least three American soldiers was expected.

Soon after the US military confirmed the military personel had been killed, the US President said “we expect casualties with something like this.”

“We have three, but we expect casualties, but in the end it’s going to be a great deal for the world,” Trump told NBC News.

US Central Command also confirmed on Sunday that five US service members had been wounded in military operations against Iran.

US President Donald Trump says the attacks on Iran could go on for at least the next four weeks.

“It’s always been a four-week process. We figured it will be four weeks or so. It’s always been about a four-week process so - as strong as it is, it’s a big country, it’ll take four weeks - or less,” the Daily Mail reported is reporting.

When asked if he is still open to negotiation the President added: “I don’t know, they want to talk, but I said you should have talked last week, not this week.”

US President Donald Trump says that a second day of strikes agaist Iran has crippled Iran’s navy.

After the US executed strikes in Iran that killed dozens of top officials and the Iranian supreme leader Mr Trump said there have been major strikes against navl targets.

“I have just been informed that we have destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships, some of them relatively large and important,” Mr Trump said.

“We are going after the rest — They will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea, also!”

“In a different attack, we largely destroyed their Naval Headquarters.”