The latest flare-up in the Middle East threatens to deepen a conflict that has dragged on since the United States launched strikes on Iran in February.
An Iranian official has described hostilities between the United States and Iran, the first since late July, as a ‘limited and contained confrontation’.
The Trump administration announced what it called its most comprehensive assault to date on Iran’s economy, unveiling a package of measures intended to isolate Iran from the rest of the world.
LATIKA M BOURKE: The energy chief says the winners in the fallout from the war on Iran and oil uncertainty will be coal, renewables and nuclear options.
The currency was already under pressure before the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, but has hit new record lows after nearly six months of war.
For weeks, there has been no diplomatic progress, but also no full-scale fighting, as both sides seem to believe they can hold out longer than the other.
The government has signalled further legal and diplomatic action after Israel decided not to pursue criminal charges against soldiers who killed an Australian aid worker.
The Israeli military admitted its troops fired on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza in 2024, saying it had ordered a criminal investigation into the killing which drew international outrage
The Israeli military’s criminal investigations into high-profile attacks during the war in Gaza will not extend to the 2024 incident that left Australian aid worker Lalzawmi ‘Zomi’ Frankcom dead.