US-Iran war updates: PM says National Cabinet to reconvene, US seizes Iranian boat in ‘ceasefire violation’

An Iranian spokesperson says the United States’ are not engaging in negotiation efforts seriously with the prospect of more peace talks up in the air.

“While claiming diplomacy and readiness for negotiations, the US is carrying out behaviours that do not in any way indicate seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process,” spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the National Cabinet will be meeting immenently to reassess State and Territory priorities as governments respond to the war.

“I’ll be convening national cabinet again in coming days, not to make any change to the levels we’re on, but to once again, talk with state and territory colleagues about where we’re at,” Albanese said on ABC’s 7.30, “and to have that dialog that’s so important that we all move together as one nation.”

Albanese admitted this year’s federal budget has “presented a challenge” after its original plan to focus on “intergenerational equity” was disrupted by the war.

“A theme of the budget will be resilience, whether that be resilience of the economy or resilience in the context of giving people a stake in that economy,” he said.

“Certainly, the challenge before us at the moment has changed since February, since this conflict broke out, and that has had an impact.

“That is one of the considerations that we are giving in the expenditure review committee that’s continuing to meet.”

US Central Command has released a video of the country’s Marines boarding and seizing an Iranian container ship, the M/V Touska.

The Touska was earlier hit by a missile from destroyer USS Spruance, which destroyed its propulsion, according to CENTCOM.

The vessel “failed to comply” with warnings from US forces when it was hit and seized, CENTCOM claimed.

Khatam al-Anbiya — Iran’s military headquarters — decried the hit on the Touska in a statement, labelling it a “violation of the ceasefire”.

“Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond to and retaliate for this act of armed piracy by the US Navy,” the statement said.

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Veteran 7 reporter Liam Bartlett has taken aim at Energy Minister Chris Bowen in a wide-ranging column attacking the Government’s focus on renewables.

He writes:

If the war with Iran has done nothing else, it’s given us all a real-world, real-time lesson in what truly runs our lives.

A brutal reminder of which fuels actually matter and what government must do to protect the chain of supply and hence the livelihoods of its people.

But why do we need reminding at all? How can it be that such an energy-rich nation manages to find itself vulnerable in an energy crisis?

We have larger deposits of natural energy resources, through coal, gas and oil than almost any other country on the planet and yet, here we are, struggling to deliver to suburban bowsers around the country. How is that possible?

Of course, all of these are rhetorical questions because our road to the global fuel begging bowl is a one-way street to the office of energy minister Chris Bowen.

The myopic green dream of Mr Bowen and his co-cabinet ideologues has left us all exposed as they’ve driven us into renewables with the kind of zealotry usually reserved for religious extremists.

Read the column in full here.

ACT Greens Leader Shane Rattenbury is leaving politics after a 17-year political career and just weeks after party members rejected a controversial push to enter a power-sharing arrangement with the Liberals to end Labor’s dominance in the territory.

Announcing his departure on Monday morning, the former Attorney General and member for the inner-Canberra electorate of Kurrajong described serving in the ACT Assembly as the “privilege of my life”.

“For my entire time in this place, the Greens have held the balance of power, and that has been such an interesting journey,” he said.

​Read the full story here. ​

Iran has warned the US it will “soon respond” to US “armed maritime piracy”, after the US Navy shot and captured an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that attempted to break through a US blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

The incident, which saw the US Navy strike the Irania-flagged ship’s engine room, came after Tehran reclosed the Strait of Hormuz, something that outraged US President Donald Trump.

The escalation has also added to concerns around upcoming peace talks, set to be hosted in Pakistan, with Iran currently not planning to attend.

Tehran officials say the US must completely lift its blockade before it will further engage with the US on police, a stalemate war with the US, which wants Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz before pulling military assets further back.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has expressed “frustration” at the war in the Middle East as the Government enters the “home stretch” in preparing next month’s Budget, warning that expectations of a jump in revenue are unlikely to happen.

“It does feel like two steps forward and one step back when it comes to these developments,” Dr Chalmers told reporters after returning from a G20 meeting in Washington.

“If there’s one prevailing vibe that comes from the international colleagues, it’s really, I think, a sense of frustration about how long this war in the Middle East has been playing out, and what that means for the global economy and for everyone’s domestic economies as well.”

Dr Chalmers says the May 12 budget will be “responsible” and focused on resilience and reform, flagging tax reform and productivity measures, along with savings and cutting compliance costs.

“And when it comes to changes to revenue, I wanted to be really clear in saying that we don’t currently expect the sort of revenue bump that you have seen speculated about and many of you have written about”.

Footage has emerged of the moment a US Navy ship confronted an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that was attempting to defy Donald Trump’s Strait of Hormuz blockade.

“Vacate your engine room. We are prepared to subject you to disabling fire,” a man can be heard saying before the USS Spruance open fired at the ship.

Iranian officials say they have “no plans” to enter into renewed peace negotiations with the US.

Iranian state TV states Tehran has “no plans for now to participate”.

Multiple agencies in Iran are now reporting the same line.

US President Donald Trump says his representatives will be in Pakistan for talks, the location where a 14-day ceasefire was achieved, however, he added it will be his honour to end Iran’s killing machine should they not accept his deal.

US President Donald Trump says an Iranian-flagged cargo ship attempted to pass his blockade, with the US Navy “blowing a hole” in the engine room before taking custody of the vessel.

“Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them,” Mr Trump said.

“The U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop.

“The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom.

“Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel. The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity.

“We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!”