US-Iran War as it happened: US rescues second air force member from downed F-15 fighter jet in Iran; Trump sets 48-hour deadline for Strait of Hormuz

Abu Dhabi’s government said on Sunday that operations at a petrochemicals plant were suspended following multiple fires, Bloomberg reports.

The fires at the plant, run by firm Borouge, were caused by what authorities said was falling debris from the successful interception of attacks. No injuries were reported.

Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The country has repeatedly come under attack from Iran since the US-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic began in February.

Borouge operates a petrochemicals complex at Al Ruwais Industrial City in Abu Dhabi, producing polyethylene and polypropylene. It’s a joint venture between Abu Dhabi’s state oil firm Adnoc and Austria’s Borealis, according to information on the company’s website. About 6pm on Sunday AEST, government officials in Abu Dhabi said the fires had been brought under control.

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump has asked Congress to enact a $2.2 trillion budget for discretionary programs, seeking a massive increase in defence spending while also renewing his push for steep cuts to domestic agencies, Bloomberg reports.

The 2027 budget proposal, released on Friday, requests $1.5 trillion for defence – a significant increase over the $1 trillion sought for 2026. The new figure includes $1.1 trillion in base discretionary spending for defence and another $350 billion in mandatory spending. The budget office is also reviewing a potential $200 billion Pentagon supplemental package for the current year that would be on top of Friday’s request as the US carries out its war in Iran, Bloomberg reported.

Discretionary non-defence spending would be cut by 10 per cent, or about $73 billion, according to the White House.

The president’s decision to seek a dramatic rise in the Pentagon’s budget – the largest single-year increase since World War II – comes as polls indicate he’s struggling to convince many Americans of the wisdom of the war in Iran.

The proposal also puts Trump’s Capitol Hill allies on the spot, after lawmakers failed to enact the full scope of reductions he sought in his first year back in office, and amid some voter backlash to his slash-and-burn efforts to trim the bureaucracy. Taken as a whole, the budget sets up a fierce debate over policies and priorities ahead of November’s critical midterm elections.

The Israel Defence Force says Iran has launched missiles at Israel. In a post to its Telegram channel, the IDF says that “defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat”.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera has reported that Lebanese group Hezbollah said its fighters had targeted an Israeli military vessel 68 nautical miles off Lebanon’s coast.

Hezbollah said in a statement that the warship was preparing to launch “aggressions against Lebanese territory”. It said it had deployed a naval cruise missile in the attack, following several hours of surveillance, and claimed that a direct hit was confirmed.

Australian motorists are facing a prolonged era of high petrol prices even if the United States were to end the war in Iran tomorrow, as fuel companies and experts warn the damage to global energy markets has been so severe that it will outlast the conflict.

The cost of regular unleaded in Australia was averaging between $1.66 and $1.80 a litre earlier this year, but has surged more than 30 per cent since the war began on February 28 to hit unprecedented highs beyond $2.50 a litre, our journalists Nick Toscano and Mike Foley have reported this afternoon.

Read their story here.

More details are emerging of the dramatic rescue carried out two days after a US airman went missing in Iran, and after the fighter jet’s pilot had been recovered.

Al Jazeera is reporting that the operation to rescue the second man – a weapons systems officer who had been evading Iranian troops for two days – which would generally be carried out very swiftly instead went on for hours.

President Donald Trump has boasted about many of the unconfirmed details of the mission in a post to his Truth Social account, and added that the airman rescued was a colonel.

In another detail of the rescue, The New York Times reported that after the weapons officer was extracted, two transport planes that would carry the commandos and the airmen to safety got stuck at a remote base in Iran. Commanders decided to fly in three new planes to extract all the US military personnel and the airmen, and then blew up the two disabled planes rather than have them fall into Iranian hands.

Aid groups have warned the war in the Middle East has upended their ability to get food and medicine to millions around the world in need, and that the suffering will deepen if the violence continues, news outlet AP reports.

The conflict has cut off vital shipping routes, created a global energy crisis, and disrupted supply chains for aid groups, forcing them to use costlier, more time-consuming routes. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively shuttered and routes from strategic hubs such as Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi also impacted, transport costs have spiked with higher fuel and insurance rates, meaning less supplies can be delivered with the same amount of money.

The World Food Program says it has tens of thousands of tonnes of food heavily delayed in transit. The International Rescue Committee has $130,000 worth of pharmaceuticals intended for war-torn Sudan stranded in Dubai and nearly 670 boxes of therapeutic food meant for severely malnourished children in Somalia stuck in India. The UN Population Fund says it has delayed sending equipment to 16 countries.

Steep US cuts to foreign aid had already hobbled many aid groups, who say the war is exacerbating the problem.

The UN says this is the most significant supply chain disruption since the COVID-19 pandemic, with up to 20 per cent cost increases on shipments and delays as goods are rerouted. And the war is creating new emergencies, such as in Iran, and also in Lebanon, where at least 1 million people have been displaced. AP