US-Iran war as it happened: Top Iranian officials killed, Trump lashes allies, Iran strike near Australian base, War could push inflation past 5 per cent

The US-Israeli war with Iran has killed at least 1300 people in Iran, more than 900 in Lebanon and 14 in Israel, according to officials in those countries.

More than a dozen nations across the Middle East and the Persian Gulf have also been affected by missile and drone attacks as part of Iran’s retaliation against the US-Israeli strikes that began on February 28.

The US military says 13 service members have been killed and about 200 wounded.

Here are the latest updates:

Iran launched strikes towards Israel and Gulf countries early on Wednesday, with explosions heard in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar and interceptions reported in Saudi Arabia. The attacks came hours after Iranian state media confirmed Israel’s military killed top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in an overnight strike, as well as General Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s Basij force, known for its role in suppressing protests.
VIDEO ABOVE: Donald Trump has blasted his allies in a wordy social media post, after Australia, Japan, South Korea and NATO rejected his calls to help secure ships in the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks. “We don’t need them, but they should have been there,” he later said at the White House.
Trump’s words drew strong condemnation from Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, as a new poll shows most Australians want the country to stay entirely out of the war against Iran.
Trump, meanwhile, again said the US would soon be ready to end the war. “If we left right now, it would take them 10 years to rebuild. But we’re not ready to leave yet. But we’ll be leaving in the near future.”
Meanwhile, the US military announced it dropped several two-tonne bombs - colloquially known as “bunker busters” - on Iranian missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz.
An Iranian projectile struck near Australia’s Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates at 9.15am today. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the ADF both said no personnel were injured and that there was only minor damage to an accommodation block and a medical facility.
Regarding fuel prices, Albanese has announced each state and territory will be asked to select a “point person” to co-ordinate with the federal government on fuel challenges. National cabinet meets tomorrow to discuss fuel issues.
Looking ahead, inflation could push beyond 5 per cent due to higher oil prices caused by the war against Iran. Treasurer Jim Chalmers will give a speech tomorrow detailing this warning, as fears the war could scar the Australian economy for years continue.
And European Union president Ursula von der Leyen will travel next week to Australia, where she is expected to sign a long-awaited free trade agreement between the EU and Australia.

With AP, Reuters, Bloomberg

We will be back tomorrow morning to resume our live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.

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6.22pm on Mar 18, 2026

Iran’s nuclear doctrine not likely to change, says foreign minister

Iran’s stance against the development of nuclear weapons won’t significantly change, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told news organisation Al Jazeera in remarks relayed by Iranian media on Wednesday, cautioning that the country’s new supreme leader is yet to publicly express his view on the matter.

Former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed early in the US-Israeli war against Iran, opposed the development of weapons of mass destruction in a fatwa, or religious edict, issued in the early 2000s.

US President Donald Trump and Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi.AP

Western countries, including the US and Israel, have for years accused Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons, while Iranian authorities have said their nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes.

Araqchi said fatwas depended on the Islamic jurist issuing them and that he was not yet in a position to judge the jurisprudential or political views of Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader.

Reuters

6.05pm on Mar 18, 2026

Israel targets another building in Lebanon

Al Jazeera reports Israel has carried out a second air strike on the Zuqaq al-Blat district in Beirut, and that the strike targeted an apartment.

Firefighters spray water on a burning residential building following an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut.AP

The attack follows Israel destroying a multistorey building in a strike earlier this afternoon.

Israeli airstrikes have also killed at least two people in Lebanon’s western Bekaa valley, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

A rescue worker carries a child at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.AP

The strikes in the town of Sohmor also wounded at least six others, the ministry said.

The latest attacks drew Lebanon deeper into the war in the Middle East after Iran-backed militia Hezbollah attacked Israel on March 2, day three of the conflict. Hezbollah said it aimed to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei on February 28, the opening act of the current war.

Israel has responded with an offensive that has killed more than 900 people in Lebanon and forced more than 800,000 from their homes, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

5.59pm on Mar 18, 2026

Global shipping authority to hold emergency meeting

By Alexander Darling

An Extraordinary Council of the International Maritime Organisation will meet on Wednesday night our time in London, aimed at addressing the impact of the war on global shipping.

“Around 3200 vessels are confined west of the Strait of Hormuz, with around 20,000 seafarers impacted,” the IMO notes in a document prepared before the meeting, due to start 8.30pm (AEDT).

A cargo ship sails in the Arabian Gulf towards the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday.AP

Other outlets are reporting that among the actions the IMO is considering is the establishment of “a safe maritime corridor to allow the safe evacuation of seafarers and ships stranded in the Persian Gulf”.

The IMO is the UN’s specialised agency tasked with regulating the shipping industry and keeping it fair. Its Extraordinary Council has 40 member states, including Australia, several of which requested this meeting take place.

5.41pm on Mar 18, 2026

Latest reports of live fire

Missile alerts sounded in Dubai again on Wednesday morning as the noise of interceptors exploding overhead boomed across the city-state. Dubai authorities said all the interceptions had been successful with no injuries.

Israel said it detected a new missile launch from Iran targeting it on Wednesday morning, the fourth in eight hours.

5.25pm on Mar 18, 2026

How Iran retaliated to the killing of its security chief, top general

Iran targeted Tel Aviv with missiles carrying cluster warheads in what it said was retaliation for Israel’s assassination of Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani, Iranian state television reported on Wednesday.

The attack overnight on Tuesday killed two people in a neighbourhood close to densely populated Tel Aviv, where there are also key military facilities, bringing the death toll in Israel from the war to at least 14.

Ali Larijani was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed.AP

A statement by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps read on state TV said weapons used included Khorramshahr 4 and Qadr missiles, both with multi-warheads.

Also killed was general Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of IRGC branch Basij, a volunteer militia known for suppressing internal protests.

Al Jazeera reports their funerals are due to take place later today.

Al Jazeera also spoke to Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said their deaths would not weaken Iran.

“I do not know why the Americans and Israelis still haven’t understood this point: Iran has a strong political structure with established political, economic and social institutions. The presence or absence of a single individual doesn’t influence the structure,” he said.

Reuters with Alexander Darling

5.11pm on Mar 18, 2026

EU president to visit Australia after Middle East ‘wake-up call’

European Union president Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Australia next week where she is expected to sign a long-awaited free trade agreement between the EU and Australia.

The president will be in Australia from Monday to Wednesday, and will meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday in Canberra.

“I look forward to welcoming President von der Leyen to Australia and continuing discussions to further expand our co-operation. Australia and Europe are friends and partners, working together to advance peace, security and economic prosperity,” Albanese said in a statement.

“The visit to Australia by President von der Leyen is an important opportunity to continue that work.”

Yesterday Trade Minister Don Farrell said the deal would deliver $10 billion in additional trade for Australia during its first year, and more in subsequent years.

“The troubles in the Middle East are a wake-up call, I think, to everybody that we need to diversify our trade relationship. Europe really is the last key to all of that,” Farrell said on Tuesday.

5.03pm on Mar 18, 2026

War could push inflation past 5 per cent, scar economy for years

By Shane Wright

Inflation could push beyond 5 per cent due to higher oil prices caused by the war against Iran, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will warn with fears the war could scar the Australian economy for years.

In a speech to Australian Business Economists tomorrow, Chalmers will reveal preliminary Treasury modelling of the impact of high-priced oil on economic growth and inflation.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says state and territory governments have a role to play when it comes to fuel security and supply chains.Alex Ellinghausen

He will say that if oil stays around $US100 a barrel before falling back to its pre-war level, it would mean “the prospect of inflation peaking in the high 4s or even higher this year is very real”.

But if oil reaches $US120 a barrel and then takes three years to fall back to its pre-conflict level, inflation is likely to push towards 5.5 per cent or even higher.

Oil at $US100 a barrel clips about 0.2 per cent from economic growth. But higher priced oil would leave a “bigger scar”.

“There would be an immediate hit to output, but it would build over time,” he will say.

“Treasury estimates that GDP would be 0.6 per cent lower in 2027 and even by 2029 would still be below where it would have been without the conflict.”

The Reserve Bank is forecasting economic growth to slow to 1.6 per cent next year.

Chalmers will say Treasury is modelling a third “more drastic” outlook for oil. Some analysts have suggested oil could push beyond $US150 a barrel.

He will say since Treasury started examining the impact of the war, the fallout from higher oil, LNG and fertiliser prices on growth and inflation has doubled.

4.48pm on Mar 18, 2026

Iran continues to strike Gulf states

By Alexander Darling

Across Wednesday, new attacks have been reported in multiple Gulf countries, including on Saudi Arabia’s vast Eastern Province, which is home to many of its oil fields, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Saudi Arabia shot down a ballistic missile targeting the area of the Prince Sultan Air Base, which hosts American forces and aircraft.

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Gulf Arab states have faced more than 2000 missile and drone attacks on US diplomatic missions and military bases, as well as oil infrastructure, ports, airports, ships and residential and commercial buildings, and most of them aimed at the United Arab Emirates.

Among these was the Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE, where Australian military personnel are stationed. The ADF and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have both said there was only minor damage and no injuries from this missile attack.

Greens say we are at war

Greens Leader Larissa Waters told the ABC she was concerned Australia was now at war, given Albanese was one of the first to declare his support for the US and Israel’s strikes on Iran on February 28, the war’s opening act.

“I find it baffling why the government doesn’t want to use the word [war]. When we are facing attacks on our bases and our people are on the ground, it is indeed a war, and an illegal one at that,” she said.

Saudi Arabia will host a consultative meeting of foreign ministers from a number of Arab and Islamic countries in Riyadh on Wednesday evening to discuss ways to support regional security and stability, the kingdom’s foreign ministry said.

With AP, Reuters

4.35pm on Mar 18, 2026

Iran exporting millions of oil barrels despite war

About 90 ships including oil tankers have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since the outset of the war with Iran and it is still exporting millions of barrels of oil at a time when the waterway has been effectively closed, according to maritime and trade data platforms.

Many of the vessels that passed through the strait were so-called “dark” transits evading Western government sanctions and oversight that likely have ties to Iran, maritime data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence said.

Liberia-flagged tanker Shenlong Suezmax, carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia, that arrived after clearing the Strait of Hormuz, is pictured here at a port in India.AP

More recently, vessels with ties to India and Pakistan have also successfully crossed the strait as governments stepped up negotiations.

As crude prices spiked above $100 a barrel, US President Donald Trump pressured allies and trade partners to send warships and reopen the strait, hoping to bring oil prices lower.

Most shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway for global oil and gas transport that supplies roughly one-fifth of the world’s crude oil, has been halted since early March, after the war started. About 20 vessels have been attacked in the area.

However, Iran has still managed to export well above 16 million barrels of oil since the beginning of March, trade data and analytics platform Kpler estimated. Due to Western sanctions and associated risks, China has been the biggest buyer of Iranian oil.

Bloomberg

US-Iran war as it happened: Top Iranian officials killed, Trump lashes allies, Iran strike near Australian base, War could push inflation past 5 per cent

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