US-Iran war news and live updates: IDF unleash new wave on Iran after Trump says air defence ‘knocked out’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed the US consulate in Dubai has been struck in a suspected Iranian drone attack.

Marco Rubio says diplomatic staff are evacuating the Middle East after the US consulate in Dubai caught fire following a drone attack.

The Secretary of State confirmed the direct strike of the US facility as he walked into a press conference at the White House.

“As I came in, I also saw the media reports about Dubai’s consulate,” he said.

“The last update I had with seconds before getting before these cameras was that a drone unfortunately struck a parking lot adjacent to the Chancery building, and then set off a fire in that place.”

“All personnel are accounted for. As you’re aware, we began drawing down personnel from our diplomatic facilities in advance of this,” Mr Rubio added.

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Australia’s first repatriation flight from Dubai to Sydney could leave as early as Wednesday morning, depending on conditions on the ground, Foreign Minister Penny Wong says.

Ms Wong said a flight is scheduled to depart from Dubai to Sydney on Wednesday (Australian time), but stressed it remains “dependent on the circumstances,” she told ABC radio.

She described the unfolding situation as “a consular crisis that dwarfs any that Australia has had to deal with in terms of numbers of people.”

“We are looking at all contingencies that are possible, but I again say what I’ve said over the last two days. When you have as many Australians as we have in, particularly in the Emirates, but broadly in the region, so it’s 115,000 Australians in the broader region, 24,000 in Emirates … That volume of traffic will really need to see commercial flights resume even if only sporadically, to get people home.”

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Lebanon has been pulled deeper into the war in the Middle East as the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel for a second consecutive day, and Israel sent troops into the south and carried out waves of air strikes.

With dozens of people killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes, Hezbollah’s move to enter the conflict has sharpened long-standing divisions in Lebanon over its status as an armed group - the only Lebanese faction to keep its weapons after the 1975-90 civil war.

The government on Monday took the unprecedented step of outlawing Hezbollah’s military activities. The pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper condemned this as a “capitulation to dictates, which could even lead to the outbreak of civil war”.

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Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son and chosen heir of the late Ayatollah Khamenei, has been elected as Iran’s new Supreme Leader, according to Iran International.

The 56-year-old has long been viewed as a key figure within the country’s power structure and is widely regarded as at least as hardline as his father.

He is understood to wield significant influence behind the scenes and maintains strong links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s most powerful military force, as well as the Basij volunteer paramilitary group.

Australia’s support of US strikes against Iran continues to draw fire as a UN expert blasts Canberra’s stance on the military action.

It was “crystal clear” that the US-Israeli strikes were an illegal, armed aggression against Iran, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism Ben Saul said.

“Every death in Iran is a violation of the human right to life as well under international human rights law,” he told AAP.

“These aren’t acts in self-defence because Iran has not attacked either country and is not about to imminently attack them, and the Security Council hasn’t given any authorisation.”

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The US consulate in Dubai has been evacuated after a fire broke out following a drone strike.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during a press confernce at the White House that all staff were accounted for and no injuries had been reported.

Donald Trump says the joint US-Israeli strikes have delivered knockout blows to all arms of the Iranian military.

“[Iran] has no navy, it’s been knocked out. They have no air force, that’s been knocked out. They have no air detection, that’s been knocked out,” Mr Trump told media during a meeting with German Chancellor riedrich Merz at the White House.

“Their radar has been knocked out. Just about everything’s been knocked out.

“They no longer have air protection. They no longer have any detection facilities at all left, and so they’re going to be in for a lot of hurt,” Mr Trump added.