US-Iran war updates: Under attack UAE closes airspace, Marles rules out fuel rationing

A drone strike has sparked a fire in the United Arab Emirates’ city of Fujairah.

The attack on the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, which has the Middle East’s largest storage capacity for refined oil products, has reportedly sparked an “advanced fire”.

“Civil defense teams in the emirate immediately began responding to the incident and are continuing efforts to bring it under control,” the UAE’s Fujairah government media office said.

Despite more than two weeks of relentless airstrikes, US intelligence assessments say, Iran’s regime likely will remain in place for now, weakened but more hard-line, with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps security forces exerting greater control.

Western officials and analysts who study Iran said they see little near-term prospect of a “regime change” end to the 47-year-old Islamic republic or the rise of a more democratic government.

The latter is a goal cited by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sometimes by President Donald Trump, who has said he’ll know the war is over “when I feel it in my bones.”

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The United Arab Emirates has shutdown the country’s airspace as it responds a new wave of drone and missile attacks.

The shutdown was “an exceptional precautionary measure”, state media have reported.

It comes just hours after the country lifted a previous airspace closure and Emirates airline resumed a reduced flight schedule.

That closure had been prompted after a fuel tank fire caused by a drone attack at Dubai airport.

Donald Trump has once again undermined NATO, conflating the defensive alliance with his expectation that Allies should write the US a blank cheque for its military ‘excursion’ in Iran, Latika M Bourke writes.

Despite his self-professed triumphs in Iran, Mr Trump has resorted to his well-used trope that NATO allies would not defend America if attacked after they were reluctant to send help to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

But this was a US war of choice and his expectation that the Allies would be obliged to help is an extension of America First thinking — the US uses its military and economic superpower status to protect and secure common goods, such as shipping routes, that benefit more countries than just the US.

His destructionist methods may have worked to get the Europeans to lift their defence spending, but it has had costs.

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Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says if the Government is contemplating fuel rationing – which it has so far ruled out – that would be akin to admitting failure.

“You shouldn’t need rationing if you’re actually on top of the issues. Rationing is something you do when you fail,” he told reporters in Walla Walla, where he is on the campaign trail for the by-election in Sussan Ley’s former seat of Farrer.

“This government is now signing up for failure, because they just haven’t got it right.”

Mr Taylor said the most important thing right now was for the Government to “do what is necessary” to get fuel stocks to regional areas.

One Nation MP and former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said at the weekend that Australia should “100 per cent” be rationing fuel.

Defence Minister Richard Marles says Australia will consider any request from the United States for military assistance in the Strait of Hormuz but insists no direct approach has been made from Washington yet.

On Monday, the Albanese government confirmed it would not be sending a warship to the region after President Donald Trump urged allies to help the United States protect the crucial shipping passage from Iranian strikes.

Overnight President Trump has increased pressure on allies — including the United Kingdom — to help secure the Strait of Hormuz and restore the flow of global oil shipments.

Mr Marles has told Sky News at this point Australia has not received a request from the Trump administration but added: “we’ll see what transpires over the coming days”.

“It depends on the nature of the ask, and I don’t want to speculate on that. I mean, when requests are made, we all understand what each other’s capabilities are, and this tends to be a situation where people will go into, you know, what may help,” he added.

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The United Arab Emirates Defence Ministry says it is currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran.

“Sounds heard are the result of the Air Defence Systems intercepting missiles and drones,” the ministry said.

Locals have been asked to adhere to safty and security measures in place.

Leaked audio suggest that Iran’s new Supreme Leader survived the US-Israeli strike that killed his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by just seconds.

Mojtaba Khamenei is understood to have been injured in the attack on February 28 that decimated Iran’s leadership and his family but he has not been seen or heard from since.

The audio, reportedly captured while an aide to Ali Khamenei spoke to IRGC commanders, indicates Mojtaba is indeed still alive and missed dying in the strike by a simple stroke of luck.

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The ACCC will today haul in petrol suppliers and retailers in to explain soaring fuel prices.

Petrol and diesel prices have risen as fast as wholesale prices – and in some cases more than that – in the fortnight after the US-Israel-Iran war began.

Prices in Perth jumped by a massive 59.5 cents a litre on average, the largest increase in the country.

“Some of the steep increases in petrol prices we saw shortly after the outbreak of this conflict have really raised concerns at the ACCC,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said

“Today the regulator will get a chance to make the retailers and suppliers justify their prices.

“I’ve made it very clear that if they find evidence of misconduct, we expect the ACCC to throw the book at them.”

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US President Donald Trump says he will shortly reveal which countries have agreed to assist Washington in efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as soaring oil prices increase pressure on global shipping routes.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Mr Trump acknowledged that several allies have been reluctant to commit forces to the mission so far.

“There are a couple, we’ll be announcing some names soon. There are some that really were right up front.”

The president also argued that major economies relying on oil shipments through the strait, including Japan, South Korea and China, should play a greater role in securing the passage.

“And they should not only be thanking us, they should be helping us. What does surprise me is that they’re not eager”, Mr Trump said.