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Iran said the United States has violated a ceasefire after the US conducted what it called defensive strikes in southern Iran, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said negotiating a deal to halt the conflict could “take a few days”.

Iran’s foreign ministry said US strikes in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, where Iranian media reported sounds of explosions early on Tuesday, represented a “gross violation” of a tenuous ceasefire in place for nearly seven weeks.

Both sides had previously indicated progress on a memorandum of understanding that could halt the war and restart shipping through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, while giving negotiators 60 days to tackle more complex issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.

Iranian media reported that the country’s negotiators had been pushing for the memorandum to include the release of billions of dollars of frozen assets at talks in Qatar.

Following strikes against targets that the US said included boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, Mr Rubio told reporters on his plane in India’s Jaipur that the Strait of Hormuz had to be open “one way or the other”.

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Australia has unveiled a new Quad maritime surveillance partnership with the US, India and Japan, alongside a $20 billion critical minerals push aimed at strengthening regional security and protecting supply chains amid mounting global instability.

The Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration will combine the four nations’ monitoring capabilities across the Indian Ocean and provide improved real-time information to commercial shipping.

A separate critical minerals agreement spanning mining, processing and recycling was also announced. China pushed back on the move, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning saying: “We do not support forming exclusive small groupings or bloc confrontation”.

“Any cooperation should not undermine mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries.”

Speaking in New Delhi, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Indo-Pacific nations must “have the capacity to know who is in (the region), what illegal fishing is occurring, what is occurring in their maritime zones, and supporting their capacity to respond”.

Senator Wong also confirmed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had briefed Quad ministers on Iran talks, adding: “I think all the countries around the table are hoping that there is an outcome which returns stability, which returns peace and which enables freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and supply to flow.”