US-Iran war updates: Chris Bowen cuts fuel stock obligations, Donald Trump says Khamenei ‘damaged but alive’

As global oil prices surge past $US100 a barrel, the Federal Government has introduced a number of measures to shore up fuel supply in Australia.

Here’s what you need to know.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

* The war in the Middle East has spiked fuel prices, in part because around 20 per cent of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz - a key trade route between the Persian Gulf and the rest of the globe

* Iran’s new supreme leader has promised to keep the strait closed, and there are reports his regime has begun laying mines in the sea lane

* Video has emerged of two oil tankers ablaze in Iraqi waters after apparently being attacked by Iran

* In Australia, petrol prices have soared to well over $2 a litre for E10 in many locations

* Some regional areas have reported shortages. The government says demand for petrol and diesel has doubled as motorists and businesses panic-buy in response to the conflict

HOW IS AUSTRALIA RESPONDING?

* Fuel companies will be allowed to release a week’s worth of petrol and diesel - or nearly 800 million litres - from their domestic reserve to help meet the extra demand

* Energy minister Chris Bowen says the extra fuel will take some time to flow through to the bowser

* The government has also relaxed its fuel quality requirements, meaning higher sulfur petrol usually reserved for export can now be sold in Australia

* In late 2025, Labor raised Australia’s fuel standards - the latest change effectively puts that reform on pause for two months, and quality standards are still very high compared to other parts of the world

WHAT ELSE COULD BE DONE?

* One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has suggested rationing fuel in the cities to ensure regional Australians aren’t disadvantaged. The government has rejected this idea

* The opposition says quality standards could also be lowered for diesel, which could help transport and logistics businesses who rely on the fuel to move goods around the nation

AAP

Seven American troops have been killed in combat during the Iran war.

Six of the service members were killed when an Iranian drone struck an operations centre at a civilian port in Kuwait.

The seventh died after being wounded during an attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

The Penatgon said that about 140 US service members had been wounded, including eight severely.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has trevealed that Iranian nuclear scientists have been targeted.

“In the current operation, we also opened the path for a broad strike against Iran’s massive missile stockpiles and missile-production facilities, as well as its nuclear project — including severe blows to senior Iranian scientists who led the development of nuclear bombs meant to destroy us,” he said.

“They are no longer here.”

Iran’s new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has joined social media - launching a verified account on Elon Musk’s platform X just days after taking power.

The account, under the handle @Rahbarenghelab_ already has tens of thousands of followers and has been used by the cleric to fire off a series of posts about Iran’s war with the US and Israel.

In one message to more than 44,000 followers, Khamenei urged supporters to continue the fight.

“Dear fighter brothers! The desire of the masses of the people is the continuation of effective and regret-inducing defence,” he wrote, according to X’s automatic translation from Persian.

He also called for Iran to keep using its ability to block the strategically crucial Strait of Hormuz as leverage in the conflict.

“I assure everyone that we will not forgo vengeance for the blood of your martyrs,” another post declared.

Khamenei also used the platform to pressure neighbouring Middle Eastern countries, urging them to “clarify their stance” and calling on nations hosting US military bases to shut them down.

Iran has fired waves of missiles over Zarzir, in the country’s north, with emergency services saying that 30 people were injured.

“A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the Israeli military wrote on its official Telegram channel.

It issued a similar alert a short time later.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service raises the number of casualties from the missile impact in Zarzir from two to about 30, almost all of whom were lightly hurt by broken glass or are suffering from acute panic.

A French soldier has been killed in Erbil in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, President Emmanuel Macron said.

A member of the armed forces “died for France during an attack in the Erbil region of Iraq”, Mr Macron posted on X, confirming the first French military death in the Middle East war.

Mr Macron added that several other soldiers had been wounded in the incident, which the French military earlier said was a drone attack on troops carrying out a training exercise.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is reportedly in intensive care after being badly hurt in US-Israeli strikes.

Khamenei has not been spotted in public since his elevation to his late father’s role was confirmed this week.

A written statement attributed to the new Ayatollah was released this morning, in which he vowed to “avenge the blood of martyrs”.

However, British media have reported that Khamenei could be in a coma, having lost at least a leg and nursing serious injuries to his stomach and liver.

The 56-year-old is being treated at the Sina University Hospital under heavy security, a source said.

“One or two of his legs have been cut off. His liver or stomach has also ruptured. He is apparently in a coma as well,” the source told The Sun.

Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan has lashed the Albanese Government for letting fuel pumps in regional Australia run dry.

He said the fuel crisis would “have a detrimental impact” on agriculture.

“This will have a detrimental impact, not only at the bowser – which we’re already seeing – but also prices at the supermarket,” Mr Tehan said.

“Regional and rural Australia have no fuel in lots of areas and people are paying 40 per cent more for their petrol prices.”

The second most senior Iranian diplomat serving in Australia secretly defected from the hardline Islamic regime three years ago and was granted asylum, in a dramatic move that has only just become public.

Confirmation that former charge d’affaires Mohammad Pournajaf had walked out of his Canberra embassy in 2023 comes in the same week seven members of Iran’s women’s football team also sought asylum in Australia.

The London-based Iran International news service, which is not aligned with the regime in Tehran, reported today that Dr Pournajaf had submitted an asylum request along with another Iranian diplomat based in Denmark.

“In recent months, amid escalating political and social developments linked to the Iranian national uprising, other cases of Islamic Republic diplomats abandoning their posts and seeking asylum have also been reported,” the outlet reported.

However, The Nightly has confirmed that Dr Pournajaf actually applied for protection and was granted permanent residency three years ago, well before the latest US led conflict against Iran began.

Story here.