US-Iran war updates: Donald Trump’s new timeline before power plant obliteration, Aussies petrol prices cut
LIVE UPDATES: US President Donald Trump claims to be dealing with Iran’s ‘new regime’, something Tehran totally rejects, with a new deadline issued to avoid total obliteration.
Scroll down for the latest news and updates.
Max Corstorphan is reporting live.
Fuel excise cut but Aussies left waiting for reduction
On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the Government would cut the fuel excise in half for three months.
“The halving of the fuel excise will reduce the cost of fuel by 26.3 cents per litre,” Mr Albanese said.
However, Aussies will need to wait until Wednesday, April 1, before the reduction kicks in.
The reduction might not be instant. Petrol stations may keep their pre-cut prices until they next top up stocks with the discounted rate.
The Government put fuel providers on notice, saying the ACCC will closely monitor prices to ensure the lower excise rate is fully passed on to consumers.
‘Take their oil’: 1987 video of Trump resurfaces
US President Donald Trump has published an interview with him and Barbra Walters from 1987, where he talked about his desire for the US to take Iran’s oil.
“Let them have Iran, you take their oil,” Mr Trump said.
When pushed on how he would do this, he said the US would have a war in Iran for “being weak”.
“You are going to have a war, and it is going to start in the Middle East,” Mr Trump said.
In the package, Mr Trump said the US should take “a big oil installation” in Iran to make back the money the US has lost because of Iran.
Tehran’s new plan to profit off Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s security commission has approved a plan for tolls to be imposed on vessels that enter or exit the Strait of Hormuz, according to local media reports.
Under the new plan, reported on by state media outlet Fars news agency, Iran would retain its “sovereign role” over the strait, tolling permitted ships but banning US or Israeli ships.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that “security arrangements to safeguard the waterway, measures to ensure maritime navigation safety and financial regulations” would be imposed, other than for the banned “passage for vessels belonging to the United States and Israel”.
If the plan proceeds, it appears at first that Australia could enter the strait, however, the US could pressure allies not to engage.
Trump’s new one-word deadline before ‘blowing up’ Iran
US President Donald Trump had given Iran a 10-day extension to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz before he orders the obliteration of Iranian power plants.
Mr Trump claims he is speaking with the “new regime”, a claim Iran’s parliament speaker has rejected. Doubling down on his claims, Mr Trump issued a grim warning to Iran, saying he is ready to order total destruction, giving the new deadline of “shortly”.
“The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched’.”
