US-Iran war live updates: Fresh wave of attacks hit Tehran as Iranian death toll rises to 1,230

Penny Wong earlier confirmed that another three flights are scheduled to depart Dubai today for Australia.

The first flight to arrive in Australia since the war broke out over the weekend landed in Sydney late on Wednesday night.

The Foreign Minister said she was very glad to see those Australians come home safely, but with thousands more people still in the region, there was more to do.

The government has been emphasising that commercial flights are likely to be the best way for stranded travellers to leave the region.

Six DFAT crisis response teams are headed to the Middle East to provide on-the-ground consular assistance to Australians stuck there.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said they would be beefing up the capability of DFAT personnel already in the region to help ensure the safety of Australians in those countries and also assisting them to leave.

“Not everybody who is in the UAE will be wanting to leave. Obviously, there are people who reside there, who are living there,” she said.

“We have that cohort, and then we have a cohort of people who were travelling off and on to other destinations, who have not been able to engage in forward travel. So, I think what we would see is most many of those people will be the first ones seeking to leave.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has again said Australia did not participate in the American and Israeli strikes on Iran and says the legal basis for the war is a matter for those two countries.

Asked whether Australian military intelligence or assets at places like Pine Gap had been used, Senator Wong said: “We don’t comment on that facility. On the strikes, we made clear that we did not participate in the strikes.”

Australia is worried about the war becoming a broader conflict, noting Iran has now sought to strike 11 different countries.

“I don’t think … we anticipated, or any country might have anticipated, that Iran would respond in the way that it has,” Senator Wong told reporters.

“It has, within the first 72 hours, struck many non-participant countries. It engaged in strikes on airport hubs. So, this conflict has spread very rapidly, and the conflict is much more intense.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says motorists should not be taken for mugs by the fuel companies as RACQ reports “unwarranted” hikes at the bowser to the consumer watchdog.

“We don’t want to see people taken for mugs at the bowser,” he told the ABC.

“Service stations should not be doing the wrong thing by their customers, using the conflict in Iran, and the Middle East more broadly, as an excuse to gouge customers.”

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A vote in the US Senate has taken place, with lawmakers attempting to limit US President Donald Trump’s war powers.

Almost all of the US senators who voted followed their Republican or Democrat party line, except one Republican, Senator Rand Paul, who supported the Democrats.

Democrats had been pushing to limit Mr Trump’s ability to enter into war in the Middle East, claiming his priorities and reasoning were not clear and lacked proper purpose.

The vote failed 47-52.

It means, for now, Mr Trump can continue his war on Iran and use of US armed forces in Operation Epic Fury, however, Congress will be asked the same question on Thursday (local time).

Donald Trump says Iran were within two weeks of having a nuclear weapon during his first term in office.

“It is a nation that is out of control and they would have used it on us if we waited any longer,” Mr Trump said.

“A big factor was the killing of Soleimani in my first term and maybe the biggest factor was the rebuilding of the military in my first term and the B-52’s obliteration of the nuclear program.

“Within two weeks they would have had a nuclear weapon if we didn’t do the B-52 attack.”

US President Donald says the Iranian resistance is being ‘wiped out’ as the war rages in the Middle East.

“We’re in a very strong position now,” Mr Trump said in his latest update on the conflict.

“They’re (Iran) leadership is just rapidly going. Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they wind up dead.

“It’s and amazing thing that’s taking place before your eyes, because for 47 years we were pushed around and we shouldn’t have been.

“You see it as well as I do the tremendous progress that’s being made.

“They’re missiles are being wiped out rapidly, their launchers are being wiped out and they’re attacking their neighbours.”

Donald Trump has spoken about Iran’s nuclear program and called out Barack Obama over a deal with that he “terminated”.

“That was a tremendous threat to our people. For 47 years they have been killing our people and killing people from all over the world,” Mr Trump said.

“I think we have great support.

“If we didn’t terminate one of the worst deals ever made, the Obama nuclear deal, I call it the Obama nuclear deal where he gave everything to Iran including a nuclear weapon, it was a road to a nuclear weapon bad things would have happened four years ago.

“They would have a had a weapon four years ago if I didn’t terminate that deal.”

Donald Trump has spoken about the war against Iran saying the US is “doing very well”.

“On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate it about a 15,” Mr Trump said at a forum in Washington.

“We have the greatest military in the world by far, and if we hadn’t have done it first they (Iran) would have done it to Israel.”

President Donald Trump is speaking at a panel on ratepayer protection in the US and has provided an update on the war against Iran.

Mr Trump kicked off the discussion and told a packed room that the conflict is on track.