US-Iran war live updates: Iranian warship sunk by US torpedo; Australian repatriation flights continue

NATO allies will keep supporting Ukraine despite the situation in Iran, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told Reuters on Thursday.

“Many leaders in Europe and the United States, Canada say it has to be ‘and, and’: make sure that as allies we enable what the Americans are doing in the Middle East ... and at the same time make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to stay strong in the fight”, he said.

Reuters

Countries in the Middle East have told European officials they are concerned about the risk of civil war in Iran as a result of the conflict between Tehran and the United States and Israel.

“When we talk to the countries in the region, they are also worried about civil wars inside Iran becauseof the regime’s leadership and what is going on there,” EU foreign chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday ahead of a video conference with EU foreign ministers and representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council on the situation in Iran and the broader Middle East.

The EU wants to push forward a diplomatic solution. “Wars really end in diplomacy and there has to be room for diplomacy here to really get out of this cycle of escalation,” she told reporters.

The EU is “extremely worried” about maritime security in the region and that it is trying to keep routes such as the strait of Hormuz open, she said although, since the EU was not dependent on oil from Gulf states, the attacks there did not have a large short-term impact on the security of the supply of oil to the EU.

The conflict has also escalated a dispute between the United States and Spain, with Washington threatening to cut trade with Madrid over Spain’s refusal to allow US aircraft to use jointly operated naval and air bases in southern Spain for the offensive against Tehran.

Spain has denounced the US and Israeli bombings of Iran as reckless and illegal. The White House said on Wednesday that Spain had agreed to cooperate, but Madrid has denied this.

Asked about the spat, Kallas said she hoped Washington would respect the trade agreement reached last year that applies to all EU member states.

Iran’s foreign minister has issued a chilling reaction to the US’s bombing of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, as an ayatollah issues a violent call for retribution.

Eighty-seven crew on board were killed in the attack on Wednesday (AEDT), thousands of kilometres from the Middle East war zone. Sri Lankan authorities said 32 others were rescued.

“Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret [the] precedent it has set,” said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on X.

Later, Iranian state television aired a message on Thursday from an ayatollah in Iran calling for the “shedding” of the blood of Israelis and US President Donald Trump.

The message came from Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli and represented one of the few clerical statements coming from Iran as it faces a combined airstrike campaign from Israel and the United States.

“We are now on the verge of a great test, and we must be careful to fully preserve this unity, to fully preserve this alliance,” he said in the statement.

He called for “the shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump’s blood”.

“The Imam of the time says, ‘Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders,’” the ayatollah added.

Two Australian sailors were onboard a nuclear-powered US submarine when it torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship yesterday off the coast of Sri Lanka.

This masthead understands the Australians are on board the American submarine as part of the AUKUS training rotation.

The submarine hit the frigate IRIS Dena with a Mark-48 torpedo, killing more than 80 Iranian sailors in a strike described as “quiet death” by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. The IRIS Dena was heading back to Iran after taking part in joint military exercises off India’s eastern coast.

The Defence Department refused to identify the rank or role of the Australians on the submarine.
“There are long-standing arrangements relating to third-country deployments to ensure Australian interests are managed appropriately,” Defence said.

“It is not appropriate to go into these details. For operational security reasons, the Australian Defence Force does not disclose specific details regarding third-country deployments, including the number of personnel or their location.

“As the United States and Israel have said, the military strikes were initiated and conducted by the United States and Israel – not Australia.”

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry has condemned what it says were drone attacks from Iran on Thursday.

“One drone struck the terminal building of the airport in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, while another drone fell near a school building in the village of Shakarabad,” the ministry said in a statement.

“We strongly condemn these drone attacks launched from the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which resulted in damage to the airport building and injuries of two civilians.

“This attack against the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan constitutes a violation of the norms and principles of international law and serves to increase tensions in the region.

“We demand from the Islamic Republic of Iran to provide, within the shortest possible time frame, a clear explanation regarding the case, conduct an appropriate investigation, and take the necessary urgent measures to ensure that such attacks are not repeated in the future.

“The Azerbaijani side reserves the right to take appropriate response measures.”

There was no immediate comment from Iran. Azerbaijan said it had summoned Iran’s ambassador.

Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East. We’ll be providing live updates through the Australian night and into Friday as the conflict continues to spread.

• Iran’s foreign minister called the sinking of an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka on Wednesday, which killed at least 80 people, an “atrocity at sea”. He said the Iranian frigate Dena, a guest of the Indian navy with nearly 130 sailors on board, had been struck without warning in international waters.
• Al Jazeera reports Sri Lankan minister Nalinda Jayatissa has confirmed a second Iranian warship is heading towards Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, in the same area where the first one was attacked.
• Iran launched a new wave of attacks on Thursday morning at Israel and American bases and threatened that the United States would “bitterly regret” torpedoing the Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. A religious leader called for “Trump’s blood”.
• Later on Thursday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said it had hit a US tanker in the northern part of the Gulf and the vessel was on fire. It said that in time of war passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be under the control of the Islamic Republic.
• In Washington, Republican senators blocked a motion aimed at stopping the US air campaign against Iran and requiring that military action be authorised by Congress. That rejection leaves President Donald Trump’s power to direct the war largely unbound, as the conflict continues to widen across the Middle East and beyond.
• And repatriation flights are taking place, with one plane due to land in Sydney tonight and another due in Melbourne early on Friday morning. The Australian government has also confirmed it has deployed two military aircraft to the Middle East to help with evacuations, though it has yet to detail where and when.

Read more about the conflict in the Middle East

• The news: Iranian leader labels Trump ‘Israel First’
• Tracking the war: Where the US struck and where Iran retaliated
• Israel attacks Lebanon: What is Hezbollah and why is Israel attacking Lebanon?
• The three men to stop Trump: Who are the Islamic Republic’s interim leadership team?
• Iran’s nuclear proposal: The tantalising fact Trump couldn’t ignore