Israel-Iran conflict LIVE updates: Trump goes to ground after National Security Council meeting, weighs US involvement; Iranian nuclear, weapons facilities attacked in Israeli strikes
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In brief: The latest on the situation in the Middle East
By Hannah Hammoud
Thank you for following our ongoing live coverage of the rapidly developing conflict between Israel and Iran.
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Here's a quick overview of the latest developments from today:
The Israel-Iran conflict has intensified, with both nations exchanging missile strikes. Iran has reportedly launched missiles targeting Israeli cities, while Israel claims to have killed a senior Iranian general.
CBS News has reported the US is considering military involvement, including potential strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. President Donald Trump has demanded Iran's 'unconditional surrender' and warned Tehran residents to evacuate.
At the G7 summit in Canada, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent after Trump's early departure. Albanese criticised US tariffs, saying they harmed US consumers more than Australian exporters. He also announced that Australia would begin negotiations with the European Union on a security and defence partnership.
Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 585 people and wounded 1326 others, a human rights group says. Iran has not been publishing regular death tolls during the conflict and has minimised casualties in the past. Its last update, issued on Monday, put the death toll at 224 people killed and 1277 wounded.
In response to the escalating conflict, about1000 Australians in Israel and 870 in Iran are seeking help to leave, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.
The New York Times is reporting that Iran is preparing missiles to strike US bases in the Middle East should Trump join the conflict.
Trump posted on Truth Social that the US knew where Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was hiding. 'He is an easy target, but is safe there. We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,' Trump wrote about 2.30am. Trump also posted on social media: 'UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!'
Iranian news websites are reporting Israeli strikes have targeted Imam Hossein University in eastern Tehran. Israel warned earlier today that it could strike a neighbourhood south of Mehrabad International Airport, which includes residential areas, military installations, pharmaceutical companies and industrial firms.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, more than 50 people were reportedly killed by Israeli tank shellfire after they tried to get aid from trucks in Khan Younis.
You can catch up with everything we know about the Israel and Iran conflict on our regularly updated 'what we know so far' page.
5.18pm
First repatriation flights carrying Israelis arrive
The first flights to bring Israelis home from overseas since the Israel-Iran conflict began have landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.
Israel's Transport Minister Miri Regev greeted the captain in the airport's control tower.
'We are waiting for you here with great anticipation,' she told her in Hebrew. 'Very excited, first rescue flight.'
Tens of thousands of Israelis are among people stranded in other countries because of the conflict, according to Israeli media.
Local news outlets are also reporting that the country's military intercepted three drones launched from Iran on Wednesday morning, local time. It is just past 10am in Tel Aviv.
AP
5.01pm
The important question facing Donald Trump
By Cassandra Morgan
Donald Trump's temptation to join Israel's strikes on Iran goes back to the US president's inclination to 'jump on the bandwagon' of what he thinks is successful, a former Israeli diplomat says.
However, the real question is to what scale the US will become involved – if it does.
That's the verdict from Alon Pinkas, Israeli consul general in New York in the early 2000s, and an outspoken critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
'The real question is the scale and the scope of an American military involvement,' Pinkas told ABC's Afternoon Briefing.
'That usually focuses [on] … the uranium enrichment facility in Fordow, which is south of the capital city of Tehran. That facility is dug 80 or 90 metres inside a mountain, is heavily fortified, and requires munitions and the delivery systems to get them there, that Israel does not possess.
'If you do not eliminate Fordow ... or inflict on it severe damage, then the idea of neutralising Iran's nuclear program is not achievable. That is the extent of the American involvement in terms of what Israel would want the US to do.
'If the US does that, obviously it vindicates everyone in the region that thought that the US was complicit in this to begin with, so I am sure that Trump, however his tendency to oscillate and contradict himself, I am sure that he is actually weighing those options.'
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