US-Iran war updates: Donald Trump claims ‘war is won’ while Iranian officials mock reports of ceasefire plan

Japan could be open to a fuel-swap deal involving Australian LNG but has cautioned Prime Minister Anthony Albanese against taxing oil and gas exports, saying it could hurt the bilateral relationship.

The Japanese ambassador to Australia Kazuhiro Suzuki warned any imposition of a windfall tax on LNG exports in May’s Budget would be regarded by Tokyo as a “bad surprise” that would deter investment in the sector.

“In [the] Japanese business dictionary, there’s no word called ‘good surprise’,” Mr Suzuki told a Minerals Council of Australia conference in Canberra.

“Surprise, in the Japanese business dictionary, it’s always bad. If there’s a retrospective taxing or something, I think that is really bad news.”

The Albanese Government is considering new so-called windfall taxes on the oil and gas industry to capture profits out of the Middle East crisis, which would hit countries such as Japan. However, Labor insists no final decision has been made.

Read the full story.

Thanks for continuing to join our rolling live coverage of the war in the Middle East, here are some of the latest revelations that you might have missed:

• Donald Trump has sent Iran a 15-point plan to end the Middle East war, following his bold declaration that the “war has been won” earlier in the day.
• Following this, the US President said that Washington is in negotiation talks with Iran to end the war, while the US army prepares to deploy 2000 paratroopers into the Middle East.
• Foreign Minister Penny Wong has welcomed the de-escalation talks, while raising concern over Israel’s desire to occupy Lebanon.
• Despite the President’s confidence that talks have begun, Iranian military figures have hit back at the negotiation claims, saying “not now, not ever”.

Lebanon was under siege on Tuesday with explosions reported in several areas north of Beirut, according to local media.

Local reports suggest the damage was caused by an intercepted Iranian missile, with pictures showing the damage sustained following the blasts.

Drone alert sirens were blaring in parts of Lebanon on Wednesday.

As Aussies face soaring petrol prices and increasingly limited access to fuel in some regions, many are turning to AI for answers.

New data from OpenAI has revealed that searches about petrol have surged by more than 200 per cent on ChatGPT in Australia across the past three weeks.

Many Australians have been turning to the AI Q&A platform to ask where the cheapest place to fill up is.

A key Iranian military figure has hit back against US President Donald Trump’s claim that negotiations are underway.

Speaking on behalf of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari said Mr Trump couldn’t call his “failure an agreement”.

“The strategic power you used to talk about has turned into a strategic failure,” he said.

“The one claiming to be a global superpower would have already gotten out of this mess if it could. Don’t dress up your defeat as an agreement. Your era of empty promises has come to an end.

“Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves? Our first and last word has been the same from day one, and it will stay that way: Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you.

“Not now, not ever.”

After Iran claimed to have fired missiles at both Israel and military bases in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, the response from the targetted countries is becoming more clear.

Earlier today, Kuwait said its air defences were responding to drone and missile attacks.

Following this the IRGC, through Iran’s state broadcaster, claimed it fired missiles targetting the “heart of the occupied territorites”, a phrase often used to describe Israel as well as US bases in the Middle East region.

Bahrain has since confirmed air raid sirens were heard during the strikes while Jordan authorities said shrapnel fell near Amman. There are no reports of injuries or casualities.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has given an update on the number of service stations with shortages across Australia.

• NSW has 187 stations with no diesel and 32 completely dry, out of 2417
• Queensland had 55 stations with no diesel and 35 with no regular unleaded petrol
• Victoria has 134 stations with at least one type of fuel out
• SA has 49 out of 700 stations with at least one type of fuel out
• WA has six stations completely dry and four with no diesel out of 771
• Tasmania has one station with no diesel and six with no unleaded petrol
• NT has no shortages but is impacted by natural disasters
• The ACT has one station with no diesel

NSW Premier Chris Minns has revealed the full effect of petrol and diesel shortages across the state as Australia feels the full pinch of the Iran war.

On Wednesday, 32 service stations were confirmed to be without any fuel type, while a staggering 313 are without one fuel type they normally stock. Of those 313 stations, 187 are without any diesel products.

In response to the shortage, the NSW Government will be compelling major fuel companies to provide more planning information for supplying extra fuel, especially with regard to regional communities.

A new liquid fuel emergency operations centre is being established in Parramatta and is expected to be up and running in the next 24 hours.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen says the industry has found shipments of fuel to replace the six boats that had been cancelled.

“All those six cancellations have now been replaced with alternative spot market orders,” he said during Question Time.

As well, an extra three fuel cargo deliveries “over and above normal deliveries” had been secured for April and May.

Jetstar is cutting back on flights from Australia to New Zealand as the airline grapples with surging fuel costs.

It announced on Wednesday that an undetermined number of flights would be affected in the cost-saving move.

“We have made some temporary changes to our schedule, including due to a rise in jet fuel prices as a result of the conflict in the Middle East and other rising costs,” a Jetstar New Zealand spokesperson said.

“All impacted passengers have been contacted directly, and most have been offered same-day travel.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience and thank our customers for their understanding.”