The US and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire, with Israel also signing on, as last-minute diplomacy led by Pakistan halts planned US strikes. Talks are set to begin in Islamabad, but continued attacks across the region highlight the fragility of the truce. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.
Islamic Resistance suspends operations after US-Iran truce
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, said it would suspend its operations in Iraq and across the region for two weeks, according to a statement issued on Wednesday, in a move that follows announcements of a two-week suspension of hostilities between the United States and Iran.
Pro-government protestors chant ‘Death to America’ in Tehran
Pro-government demonstrators in the streets of Iran’s capital Wednesday morning after the ceasefire had been announced screamed: “Death to America, death to Israel, death to compromisers!”
Organisers tried at a point to calm demonstrators, but they continued the chants.
They also burned American and Israeli flags in the street.
It shows the ongoing anger from hard-liners, who had been preparing for what many assumed would be an apocalyptical battle with the US.
NATO chief to meet Trump after US-Iran ceasefire
NATO chief Mark Rutte will hold talks with Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday, one day after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire.
The US president has expressed anger at Western partners’ refusal to back his war on Iran, rocking the 77-year-old transatlantic alliance.
He branded NATO partners “cowards” for limiting US forces’ access to bases on their territories and for refusing to lead efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Ceasefire deal a ‘victory’ for the US: White House
US, Iran and Israel agree to ceasefire
US President Donald Trump pulled back on his threats to launch devastating strikes on Iran late Tuesday, swerving to deescalate the war less than two hours before the deadline he set for Tehran to capitulate to a deal.
Trump said he was holding off on his threatened attacks on Iranian bridges and power plants, as the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire that includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it has accepted the ceasefire and that it would negotiate with the United States in Islamabad beginning Friday. Neither Iran nor the United States said when the ceasefire would begin.
Israel has also agreed to the ceasefire. The ceasefire calls for Israel and Hezbollah to halt fighting in Lebanon, according to the prime minister of Pakistan, which has been mediating talks.
• US President Donald Trump agreed “to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.”
• Iran said it would halt its attacks if attacks against it stop and that safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz would be possible for two weeks in coordination with Iranian armed forces.
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the release of American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped from a Baghdad street corner last week.
The US and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire, with Israel also signing on, as last-minute diplomacy led by Pakistan halts planned US strikes. Talks are set to begin in Islamabad, but continued attacks across the region highlight the fragility of the truce. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.
Islamic Resistance suspends operations after US-Iran truce
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, said it would suspend its operations in Iraq and across the region for two weeks, according to a statement issued on Wednesday, in a move that follows announcements of a two-week suspension of hostilities between the United States and Iran.
Pro-government protestors chant ‘Death to America’ in Tehran
Pro-government demonstrators in the streets of Iran’s capital Wednesday morning after the ceasefire had been announced screamed: “Death to America, death to Israel, death to compromisers!”
Organisers tried at a point to calm demonstrators, but they continued the chants.
They also burned American and Israeli flags in the street.
It shows the ongoing anger from hard-liners, who had been preparing for what many assumed would be an apocalyptical battle with the US.
NATO chief to meet Trump after US-Iran ceasefire
NATO chief Mark Rutte will hold talks with Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday, one day after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire.
The US president has expressed anger at Western partners’ refusal to back his war on Iran, rocking the 77-year-old transatlantic alliance.
He branded NATO partners “cowards” for limiting US forces’ access to bases on their territories and for refusing to lead efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Ceasefire deal a ‘victory’ for the US: White House
US, Iran and Israel agree to ceasefire
US President Donald Trump pulled back on his threats to launch devastating strikes on Iran late Tuesday, swerving to deescalate the war less than two hours before the deadline he set for Tehran to capitulate to a deal.
Trump said he was holding off on his threatened attacks on Iranian bridges and power plants, as the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire that includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it has accepted the ceasefire and that it would negotiate with the United States in Islamabad beginning Friday. Neither Iran nor the United States said when the ceasefire would begin.
Israel has also agreed to the ceasefire. The ceasefire calls for Israel and Hezbollah to halt fighting in Lebanon, according to the prime minister of Pakistan, which has been mediating talks.
• US President Donald Trump agreed “to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.”
• Iran said it would halt its attacks if attacks against it stop and that safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz would be possible for two weeks in coordination with Iranian armed forces.
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the release of American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped from a Baghdad street corner last week.
Last week at the National Press Club Anthony Albanese declared: “There is no security in maintaining a status quo that doesn’t work for people.”
Then, in a swipe at the sepia-tinged populism of Andrew Hastie and Canavan, he said: “Anyone who pretends that the solution to housing or jobs or wages or health is to somehow to recreate the 1950s or 60s, or whatever time they imagine everything was hunky dory, is simply not being fair dinkum with the Australian people.”
Globalisation delivered the lowest cost way to deliver the goods the vast majority of Australians enjoy, from toys and clothes to fridges and cars.
The hidden cost was exposed by the pandemic, and now again by the Iran war: we have become overly reliant on the overseas supply of essentials including fuel, medicines and fertilisers.
Those costs will now need to be built back into our system.
None of this is easy but it demands an honest explanation of the trade-offs.
Australians need to understand there will be a price to pay for economic security.
The push towards the cheapest fuel led to the closure of six of the eight refineries we had at the start of the century.
The remaining two are only operating because they are propped up by taxpayer subsidies worth billions.
Now imagine a world where we refined half our fuel needs in this country, instead of importing the cheaper overseas stuff. It would deliver us a massively more secure fuel supply.
But how much more expensive would petrol be at the pump?
An extra 10 cents a litre? More?
Are Australians prepared to cop that? Now repeat that same thought experiment across a range of industries we consider essential.
But there are other areas where Canavan’s rhetoric comes closer to the mark.
He slams Albanese as “Captain Status Quo”, and paints him as a timid leader unwilling or unable to grapple with the extraordinary changes being wrought around him.
The prime minister, Canavan says, reckons he can restore Australians’ living standards with “one more go at ‘sensible tax reform’”.
“Can anyone explain to me how scrapping the capital gains tax discount would revive living standards from the abyss they’ve fallen into?” he asked.
“We won’t get revival by tinkering around the edges.”
Holding up Albanese and the government more broadly as “free-market acolytes” who are slaves to a now-defunct neoliberalism is clearly over the top.
But there is a question whether the governments’ actions, like its Future Made in Australia strategy, like its approach to reform in “bite-sized chunks”, are bold enough to meet the challenges from a frayed global order.
Last week Albanese said the budget would be “our government’s most important” and “it will be our most ambitious”.
It will have to be. If it’s not, more Australians will buy into Canavan’s mirage.
