US, Iran war updates: Donald Trump labels Australia ‘not great’ for not supporting Strait of Hormuz security

Australian farmers have called for the government to work towards opening up American markets for fertiliser amid Iran war-induced shortages.

National Farmers Federation President Hamish McIntyre said worries were mounting ahead of the cropping season that farmers would be able to sow their full program.

“We’re extremely worried. We’re in a situation now that we need fertiliser - no matter how it gets here or where it’s from,” he told The Nightly.

“We encourage the Federal Government to explore fuel and fertiliser markets in North and South America.

“We need the government to think laterally about all options available to Australian farmers.”

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has refused to comment on Donald Trump’s criticism of Australia as “not great”.

Mr Marles instead reiterated on Friday the Government’s belief that the US hadn’t made any formal requests for help with its war in Iran.

He said the only request from the US had been to support the defence of the Gulf states. The UAE had also asked for Australia’s help, and it sent an E-7 Wedgetail surveillance plane and crew, along with defensive air-to-air missiles.

“The one request we’ve had from the United States has been in respect of providing support for the defence of the Gulf states,” Mr Marles told ABC TV.

“We’re looking at all the requests that we get from countries around the world, including the United States, and obviously, we answer them in the context of our national interest … we will continue to respond to this. We are playing our part.

“The last thing I’m going to do is give a running commentary on what the President has said. All we can do is respond to this situation, respond to the requests that are made of us, but doing so very much with a focus on what is Australia’s interest.”

The Coalition has called on the Government to halve the fuel excise to cut the price of petrol by 26 cents a litre for three months to ease the effects of the war in the Middle East.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said the $1.5 billion cost of doing so could be paid for by cutting tax breaks for electric vehicles and subsidies for home batteries and green hydrogen.

He’s also proposed halving the road user charge imposed on trucks.

“We need affordable fuel in this country. We need secure fuel in this country, and we need it as fast as possible,” he told reporters at a petrol station in Canberra.

The Government has repeatedly said it isn’t considering cutting fuel excise at the moment.

The previous Coalition government cut it temporarily during COVID.

Stocks on Wall Street suffered their largest daily decline since the start of the war with Iran on Thursday, falling as oil prices rose sharply after US President Donald Trump raised the pressure on Iran to accept terms to end the war.

“We’ll just keep blowing them away, unimpeded,” Mr Trump said at his first Cabinet meeting since the war started. While the S&P 500 had started Thursday with a decline, the losses deepened after the meeting.

The index fell 1.7 per cent on Thursday, its biggest daily decline since January, putting the index on course for its fifth straight week of losses for the first time in four years.

The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, rose roughly 5.7 per cent, to $108.01 a barrel, its highest this week.

US stock futures rose Thursday night after Mr Trump extended a deadline to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure, amid ongoing negotiations with the Islamic Republic.

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Benchmark Brent Crude prices climbed to $US101.30 on Friday morning in Australia after US President Donald Trump said he would extend a pause on attacking Iran’s energy facilities by 10 days, to April 6, at the request of Iran’s government.

The announcement of a 10-day pause came after Wall Street fell heavily again on Thursday, as rising oil prices also signalled traders doubt a peace deal and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz are close in the Middle East.

Australian equity futures point to a near 1 per cent fall at the open as the flagship S&P/ASX 200 Index heads for its fourth straight week of losses and a 10 per cent fall equal to a technical correction since the Middle East war erupted.

“Crude oil rallied after signs of negotiations gave way to rising tensions in the Middle East conflict. President Trump threatened Iran with intensified military action, with both sides seemingly miles apart in talks over a ceasefire,” said ANZ Bank’s economics team. “Oil prices rose after Trump (earlier) said that he doesn’t know if the US is willing to work with Iran on a deal.”

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US President Donald Trump has taken another swipe at the support he received from the Albanese Government in protecting the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr Trump has pressured Australia, the UK and NATO to step in, alongside the US, in the Strait of Hormuz while the US armed forces waged war, with Israel, in Iran.

“Australia was not great. I was a little surprised by Australia,” he said, speaking at the White House.

“I wouldn’t say anybody was great other than the five countries in the Middle East.

“We never really had very much support.”

“They should get involved, and I was a little bit surprised that they said no, because we always say yes to them,” Mr Trump added.

A US proposal for ending nearly four weeks of fighting is “one-sided and unfair,” a senior Iranian official has told Reuters, while US President Donald Trump says Iran must make a deal or face a continued onslaught.

The Iranian official said the proposal, conveyed via Pakistan, “was reviewed in detail on Wednesday night by senior Iranian officials and the representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader”.

It lacked the minimum requirements for success and served only US and Israeli interests, the official said, while stressing that diplomacy had not ended despite the lack, for now, of a realistic plan for peace talks.

Mr Trump described the Iranians as “great negotiators” but added that he was not sure he was “willing to make a deal with them to end the war”.

Iran has launched strikes against Israel, US bases and Gulf states as well as effectively blocking Middle East fuel exports via the Strait of Hormuz since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.

“They now have the chance, that is Iran, to permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions and to join a new path forward,” Mr Trump said during a cabinet meeting at the White House.

“We’ll see if they want to do it. If they don’t, we’re their worst nightmare. In the meantime, we’ll just keep blowing them away.”

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US President Donald Trump has announced he is “pausing” his plans to destroy energy plants in Iran at the request of the Iranian Government.

“As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well.”

Mr Trump’s “pause” is set to expire at 11am (AEST) Tuesday, 7

April, 9am AWST.

Mr Trump originally set a deadline of just 48 hours for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, or see their power infrastructure wiped out.

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