US-Iran war updates: Anthony Albanese lands in Singapore as Trump threatens ‘pressure’ on NATO

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has urged Israel to extend the newly negotiated Middle East ceasefire to include Lebanon, warning that continued strikes on Beirut risk unravelling the fragile agreement.

Speaking after Israeli attacks hit residential and commercial areas of the Lebanese capital, Senator Wong said the ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah could destabilise the broader truce involving Iran and the United States.

She stressed the ceasefire must be respected across all fronts, cautioning that renewed violence could reignite wider conflict and prolong global economic pressures, including ongoing fuel price volatility affecting Australian households.

Australia has also joined several international partners in calling for an immediate halt to hostilities in Lebanon and condemning attacks on humanitarian workers.

Lebanon has been struck by Israel’s largest coordinated strike in the current war, with the death toll rising.

Pictures are now emerging of the damage from the strikes.

Less than 24 hours after agreeing to a two-week ceasefire, Iran and the US are publicly at odds over its terms.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon, believed to have killed hundreds of people is threatening to break the already fragile ceasefire agreement.

US President Donald Trump told PBS News Hour that Lebanon was not included in the deal due to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

When Mr Trump was asked about Israel’s latest strikes, he said, “That’s a separate skirmish.”

Israel has said the agreement does not extend to its war with Iran-backed Hezbollah, although mediator Pakistan said it does.

Israel’s military called its largest coordinated strike in the current war, hitting more than 100 Hezbollah targets within 10 minutes in Beirut, southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

There was no sign of Hezbollah launching strikes against Israel in the first couple of hours after the attacks.

French President Emmanuel Macron says he has personally spoken with both Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and US President Donald Trump, backing their decision to agree to a ceasefire as the right step toward easing tensions.

Posting on X, Mr Macron said he hoped the truce would be honoured across all areas of conflict, including Lebanon, warning that any lasting agreement would also need to address concerns surrounding Iran’s nuclear ambitions, ballistic missile program, regional activity and its interference with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran appears to have closed the Strait of Hormuz again, claiming Israel has breached the ceasefire agreed on Wednesday (AEST) with its continuing strikes on Lebanon.

Jerusalem continues to insist it was not part of the truce.

The BBC reports that ship-broker SSY has confirmed vessels in the Gulf have been told the strait remains closed.

The ships still stranded in the Gulf received the following message from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp: “Attention all vessels. Attention all vessels. Attention all vessels in Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. This is the IRGC Navy Station. Transiting the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and you need permission from the IRGC before sailing through the strait. Any vessel trying to travel into the sea will be targeted and destroyed.”

Iranian media have also claimed oil tankers have stopped passing through the key waterway after Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.

Fars, the IRGC-affiliated news agency, reported that while two oil tankers were able to pass through the strait with permission from Tehran overnight, further transits have been stopped.

The Islamic Republic News Agency also noted that ships had been stopped, with reference to strikes on Lebanon.

Iran told mediators it would continue to limit the number of ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz to around a dozen a day and charge tolls under the cease-fire, the Wall St Journal reports.

Four ships were allowed to pass Wednesday, the fewest so far in April, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, down from more than 100 a day before the war.