Iranian state media says a ceasefire has begun
Iranian state television is reporting a ceasefire has begun in its war with Israel, as Israel warns of new missiles launched from Iran. It comes hours after Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi posted on social media saying Iran had no intention to continue strikes if Israel stopped its strikes by 4am local time. Intense Israeli airstrikes targeted Tehran and other areas up until this deadline, and while there were no reports of strikes on Iran immediately after, Israel has not acknowledge any ceasefire. An hour after Mr Araghchi issued the deadline, Israel's military said Iran had launched missiles towards Tehran, and Israeli officials say at least three have been killed in the strikes. The strikes come after US President Donald Trump posted on social media that Israel and Iran had agreed to a total ceasefire to be phased in over 24 hours - a move that has not been confirmed by either side. Treasurer Jim Chalmers is urging Iran and Israel to commit to a ceasefire to restore stability to the global economy. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier welcomed US President Donald Trump's announcement of a total ceasefire, but Iran's Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi has denied a deal was reached. President Trump's declaration of a ceasefire on social media came after reports that a senior Iranian official told reporters Qatar had mediated a ceasefire between the two countries. Treasurer Chalmers says a ceasefire is a necessity, if the global economy is to avoid further volatility and uncertainty. "This remains a perilous time in the Middle East and for the global economy. We urge the parties to implement the ceasefire, which was announced by President Trump. Today, we need to see an enduring ceasefire in the Middle East. We need this ceasefire to stick, and that is in the interests of the region and it's in the interests of the global economy as well." The New South Wales Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has unveiled the state's $128 billion dollar 2025-2026 budget, with a focus on housing, essential workers, health and education. Developers and home-buyers are set to benefit, with $1 billion for new units, and a guarantee for the pre-sale of up to 5,000 apartments, which the State Government says will pave the way for developers to build 15,000 new homes over five years. A $1.2 billion package will also boost the number of foster carers, and the foster carer allowance will be increased by 20 per cent from January 2026. Treasurer Daniel Mookhey says it's an investment in supporting vulnerable children. "We have to say no to a lot, but we say no to a lot. So we can say yes to what makes a big difference. And saying yes to investing more in our most vulnerable kids and to back the people who care for them is a real honor, and you don't get to do that that often. I just hope it doesn't take another 20 years for someone to do it again." The latest figures also include $5.6 billion over a decade for public schools, and funding for a new hospital at Rouse Hill as well as more funding for the Bankstown Hospital. Wage earners and public servants are also set to benefit, with real wages expected to grow each year, while cost-of-living and toll relief did not receive any substantial funding. Australia's head of online safety Julie Inman Grant has made several recommendations to improve online safety, including that You Tube should be subject to the looming social media ban for children. In a speech to the National Press Club, the eSafety Commissioner said they surveyed more than 2,600 children between the ages of 10 to 15, to understand the types of online harms they face, and where they are experiencing this happening. She says 96 per cent of children reported having used at least one social media platform. "Alarmingly, around 7 in 10 kids said they encountered harmful content, including misogynistic or hateful material, dangerous online challenges, violent fight videos and content promoting disordered eating. Children told us 75 per cent of this harmful content was received or encountered on social media. YouTube was the most frequently cited platform in our research, with almost four in 10 children reporting exposure to harmful content there." It comes as later this year, (December 11) social media companies will be required to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under sixteen from using their platforms. Australia is set be the first country to try enforcing an increased minimum age for social media, after the Federal Government passed the legislation last November, with a twelve month enforcement delay. The first Test between England and India's men's cricket teams is set for a huge finale on the final day's play in the West Yorkshire city of England (8pm AEST Tuesday). England enters the fifth day looking to complete its second highest successful run chase in test history - needing 371 for victory. But the weather may be a roadblock to getting the results, as there have been overnight showers in Leeds. In 59 tests when defending totals of over 350 India has only lost once, and that was against England in 20-22.
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News.com.au
21 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘You have 12 hours': Audio of threatening phone call between Israel and Iranian general emerges
Audio of an ominous phone call between an Israeli intelligence officer and a senior Iranian general has shed new light on the covert activity happening behind the scenes of the conflict between the two countries. The Washington Post obtained and published the audio, from a call which took place mere hours after Israel launched its initial strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities on June 13. This morning, US President Donald Trump announced a tentative ceasefire between the nations, which have been bombing each other sporadically for more than a week. You can read more about that in our live coverage. Back to the phone call. The Post removed the voice of the general to avoid identifying him. The paper said the agent with Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, had already been digitally altered when it obtained the recording. This is how the conversation unfolded. 'I'm calling from a country which, two hours ago, sent Salami, Bagheri and Shamkhani to hell,' the agent said, referring to senior Iranian targets killed by Israel, among them Hossein Salami, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. 'And now for you, now I'm suggesting you...' There was crosstalk at that point, and the Mossad agent had to ask whether the general could actually hear him. 'Listen carefully. I'm calling from a country that – I'll explain to you. Listen carefully,' he said, trying again. 'I'm calling from a country that, two hours ago, sent Bagheri, Salami, Shamkhani, one by one, to hell. 'I can advise you now, you have 12 hours to escape with your wife and child. Otherwise you are on our list right now. All of you, one by one, are on the list that I am looking at, and you are our next targets. 'We will hit you, your family, your children, everyone, with the dirt. I only called to tell you, while there's time. I will give you a reprieve. Like I said, 12 hours from this very minute that I spoke to you, you have time to escape. 'If not, you have no one to blame but yourself. We're closer to you than your own neck vein. Put this in your head. May God protect you.' The Iranian seemed confused in response, prompting the Israeli agent to reiterate his message. 'All of these savages, all of these people like Salami, we sent them to that same place they should have gone to much earlier,' said the Israeli agent. 'Do you want to be one of them? Do you want to be the next one on the list? Do you also want to destroy your wife and child?' There was a long pause. 'So what should I do now?' the general asked. 'I'm telling you right now. I gave you a proposal,' said the Israeli. 'Say it,' said the Iranian. 'You have 12 hours to make a video saying, 'We have walked away from this government, and we are unwilling to sacrifice our lives for people who destroyed our country for 46 years. They only killed, stole took. They only cut the children of this country into pieces,'' said the Mossad agent. 'Well, how should I send it to you?' the general asked. 'I will send you a Telegram ID. Send it,' said the agent. 'Look, we have everything on you. It seems you haven't understood. It's clear you don't even understand where you are right now. 'I'm telling you we hit all your leaders. We turned them into powder. Now you're sitting here, and you think you're talking to me. I'm calling to give you a proposal to save your wife and child, you wretch. Are you confused?' The call ended with more logistics about how, exactly, the Iranian general was supposed to send the video to Israel. Iran and Israel have been trading fire ever since those initial Israeli air strikes on June 13. The United States then joined in, bombing three Iranian nuclear sites. Today, hopes of a de-escalation were bolstered when Iran responded to the American attack with a token strike on a US base in Qatar, which resulted in no casualties. That was followed by Mr Trump's announcement of a ceasefire. 'CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE!' Mr Trump wrote on social media. 'It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately six hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for twelve hours, at which point the WAR will be considered, ENDED! 'Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World. 'During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL. On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, 'THE 12 DAY WAR'. 'This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn't, and never will! God bless Israel, God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States of America, and GOD BLESS THE WORLD! 'DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.' It was later reported that Iran had agreed to the ceasefire proposal via Qatar, which as acted as an intermediary between the United States, Israel and both Iran and Hamas.
SBS Australia
26 minutes ago
- SBS Australia
Trump drops expletive while accusing Israel and Iran of violating ceasefire
Iranian and Israeli media have reported new Israeli airstrikes on Iran, despite United States President Donald Trump having said Israel had called them off at his command to preserve an hours-old ceasefire . Two explosions were heard in the capital on Tuesday, Iran's judiciary news outlet Mizan reported, according to the Reuters news agency. Israeli army radio said Israel had struck an Iranian radar site near Tehran. The strikes took place minutes after Trump said Israel had called off its attack in response to his command. "All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly 'Plane Wave' to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump had earlier accused both Israel and Iran of violating the ceasefire, while expressing particular frustration with Israel which had announced major new strikes on Tehran. "Israel. Do not drop those bombs. If you do it it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now!" Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after he left the White House for a trip to a NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands. Before boarding, Trump told reporters he was "not happy" with either side for violating the truce, but particularly with Israel, which he said had launched huge strikes in response to a single missile launch which might have been unintentional. "I've got to get Israel to calm down now," Trump said as he left the White House. Iran and Israel had been fighting "so long and so hard that they don't know what the f--k they're doing," he said before turning away from cameras and heading to his helicopter. Israeli media reported that Trump spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone. A reporter for Axios said that Netanyahu had told Trump that Israel would scale back the bombing mission rather than cancel it. There was no immediate word from Netanyahu's office. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had said earlier on Tuesday that he had ordered the military to mount new strikes on targets in Tehran in response to what he said were Iranian missiles fired in a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire. Iran denied launching any missiles and said Israel's attacks had continued for an hour and a half beyond the time the ceasefire was meant to start.
SBS Australia
26 minutes ago
- SBS Australia
'Disastrous reaction': Iran's ambassador warns against Western intervention to topple Ayatollah
Iran's ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi, has told SBS News there would be a "disastrous reaction" if the West attempted a regime change in Iran. Source: SBS News After US President Donald Trump floated the possibility of "regime change" in Iran, the nation's ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi, has warned any Western-led attempt to remove Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be so severe that he does "not want even to talk about it". In a wide-ranging interview with SBS, Sadeghi described Iran as "clearly a peaceful nation" that has a "right to enrich uranium", while referring to US strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities as "unprovoked and against international law". Here are five key takeaways from SBS' interview with Sadeghi. Asked about the consequences of any attempted regime-change — either Western-led or resulting from an internal uprising — Sadeghi's response was unequivocal. "I just advise our adversaries not to even think about it," he told SBS World News. "Of course, it would be a very disastrous reaction. I cannot imagine. I do not want even to talk about it." Asked if he meant a military response, Sadeghi said: "I do not want to even consider it, that they [the US or Israel] would dare to do that, first of all." In relation to a civil uprising, he said the Iranian people had galvanised around Khamenei. "After these illegal attacks against Iran, solidarity and unity among Iranian people from different [ethnic] groups and ages has solidified," he said. Rana Dadpour from Australian United Solidarity for Iran rejected that claim, suggesting Iranian people were "united in surviving brutality". "At a time when Iranians are being arrested, executed, and silenced under wartime conditions, it is both misleading and morally indefensible to suggest that the people are united behind the regime," she said. "Right now, people are afraid for their lives. Political prisoners are being rushed through executions, and access to the internet has been cut — not just to hide the scale of repression from the world, but to block Iranians from organising, accessing information, or simply reaching loved ones. " As the Australian government urged Iran to return to the negotiating table and condemned its retaliatory strikes on US bases in Qatar and Iraq on Tuesday morning, Sadeghi rejected the notion that Iran was the party at fault. "Iran was already engaging in diplomacy and at the table," he said. "We had five rounds of negotiation, and the sixth was supposed to take place on June 30." The US strikes came just two days after Trump announced a two-week negotiation window, during which time the US would decide on a course of action. Sadeghi also referenced Trump's 2018 decision to end the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, brokered two years earlier by the Obama administration — which imposed restrictions on Iran's civilian nuclear enrichment program in exchange for sanctions relief. "As you recall, in 2015, Iran was not the one leaving the negotiating table or leaving the agreement. Iran carried out all out commitments under the JCPOA," Sadeghi said. Inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities have become more difficult since the agreement was scrapped. When asked about the legality of the US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pointed to the need for Iran to "never acquire a nuclear weapon" and the regime's support of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis — all designated terrorist organisations in Australia. "The Iranians … have been a very destructive force in the region," Albanese told Sky News. "What we want to see is regional peace and security." Sadeghi said Iran is "clearly a peaceful nation". "If you go back through history, 500 years ago up to now, Iran has not attacked, premeditated, or conducted a pre-emptive strike against any neighbours." Asked what he considered Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel — the largest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, claiming 1,200 Israeli lives and seeing 250 Israelis taken hostage — Sadeghi said: "October 7 was not the beginning of the process". While labelling the US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities as an "unprovoked and imposed war against us", Sadeghi was reluctant to weigh in on the extent of the damage to the nuclear facility at Fordow, which Trump claimed had been "obliterated". "Obliteration is a very drastic and grave term," Sadeghi said. "Based on the Atomic Energy Agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran report, no radiation has come out [of the facility.] There is no technical report that is verified about the dimensions of the damage." He also defended Iran's "right to enrich" uranium, while skirting questions about the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) reports that Iran had stockpiled uranium enriched to 60 per cent. "The percentage of the enrichment, it is something that would be negotiated between a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Iran is a signatory of, and the IAEA, based on the need on the ground," he said. "Iran has medical use of medical isotopes, of nuclear energy." According to the IAEA, uranium enriched beyond 20 per cent is "highly enriched". For civilian nuclear reactors, uranium is typically enriched to a level between 3 and 5 per cent. However, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi also stated the agency did not find "any proof" Iran was developing a nuclear weapon. There are more than 3,000 Australian citizens in Iran who have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs for assisted departure, and more than 1,200 in Israel. Albanese has said "the safety of Australians in the region is our priority". Sadeghi said Iran supported the safe passage of dual nationals out of Iran, including via the Azerbaijan-Iran border, where DFAT has stationed consular staff. "We do have information that they are passing safely," he said. Given Iran's imposition of internet outages, many Australians with loved ones in Iran have told SBS it is extremely difficult to contact family members on the ground — suggesting they also fear reprisals for speaking with Western media. "I don't know anything about such preoccupation or anxiety among anybody. I am in touch with a few Iranian-Australians in Iran … they are free to speak. Criticism in Iran is a matter of daily life, Sadeghi said. SBS has previously reported on concerns held by dual citizens about foreign interference and intimidation by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps within Australia, with community members stating there is "overwhelming evidence" of harassment and threats. According to Human Rights Watch, the regime's crackdown on the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom protests sparked by the brutal death of Mahsa Amini in police custody led to the deaths of more than 500 protesters, including 68 children. It reports "scores of activists, including human rights defenders, members of ethnic and religious minorities, and dissidents, remain in prison". World Politics Politics Canberra Share this with family and friends
