US-Iran war as it happened: Trump tells Iran to ‘make a deal before it’s too late’ as US strikes bridge; states agree to cut fuel prices further with GST windfalls

Westpac’s chief executive officer Anthony Miller has warned the conflict in the Middle East has raised the risk of a recession in Australia, saying that it was unclear how long supply chain disruptions from the Iran war could take to work their way through the economy.

Miller, who leads one of the nation’s big four banks, said in an interview with the ABC that “circumstances have changed so much that a recession is a chance”.

“The key is how long is this war going to go on, but more importantly how long does it take for supply chain consequences to be resolved,” Miller told an ABC podcast released on Friday.

Australia’s most recent GDP figures for the fourth quarter of 2025 came in higher than expected at 2.6 per cent year on year, however the war in Iran has seen cascading impacts across the nation’s economy over the past month.

The price of diesel on which the country is heavily reliant has risen sharply, with shortages reported in every state, while freight costs have risen globally, a headache for the island trading nation. Speaking in mid-March, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Australia was not “anticipating or expecting” a recession.

Bloomberg

Shares of Chinese companies that offer cross-border payments rose, after the commerce ministry noted that the yuan is being used to pay tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

CNPC Capital Co, a financial services unit of China National Petroleum Corp., jumped by as much as the 10 per cent daily limit in Shenzhen. Lakala Payment Co, a leading Chinese third-party payments provider, climbed as much as 7.9 per cent, while financial-technology firm Shenzhen Forms Syntron Information Co rose 9.4 per cent before paring gains.

While China has long been striving for yuan internationalisation, actual application in the Hormuz provides a concrete-use case that markets have been waiting for. Analysts said the development reinforces expectations that geopolitical conflicts may channel incremental capital toward China.

A post on the Ministry of Commerce website, which cited a recent Lloyd’s List report, said that vessels are paying $US2 million ($2.92 million) fees to Iran for transit of the key energy transportation waterway, and that these can be paid in yuan.

“As the Iran war continues, the yuan is emerging as a key alternative for global capital due to China’s good relationship with Iran,” said Shen Meng, a director at Beijing-based investment bank Chanson & Co. “Thus, related sectors such as oil and gas capital companies and electronic payment stocks will receive more capital flows.”

Bloomberg

North Korea appears to have razed towns near the country’s main missile and satellite launching station in a sign of possible expansion plans, adding to security concerns in a region already facing uncertainties as the war in Iran drags on.

Two villages, including hundreds of buildings, bordering the Sohae satellite launching station on the country’s western coast were demolished in March, the 38 North program at the Stimson Centre said in the report released Thursday.

“Given how satellites and anti-satellite weaponry are in the country’s new five-year plan, expansion of North Korea’s main space centre may be underway,” Martyn Williams, a senior fellow for the Stimson Centre, said in the report.

North Korea announced its new strategic plan for the country in February, covering the period through 2030 and setting out key strategic goals including putting additional spy satellites in orbit.

The report comes just days after North Korea said it tested a new solid-fuel engine to upgrade its military’s strategic strike capabilities. North Korea has been accelerating its push to develop its nuclear and missile capabilities as leader Kim Jong Un emerged as a key ally of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Bloomberg

Bangladesh has launched fresh measures to curb energy consumption, cutting office hours and trimming public spending as conflict in the Middle East disrupts global fuel markets and strains power supply in the South Asian nation.

Officials said the steps approved by cabinet on Thursday aim to stabilise the energy situation in Bangladesh, heavily dependent on fuel imports and battered by price volatility and supply uncertainty from the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Under the new rules, government offices will run from 9am to 4pm, while markets and shopping centres must shut by 6pm to reduce electricity use.

The government has also ordered cuts in non-essential public expenditure and urged lower power consumption in industry, with curbs on excessive lighting, for example.

Reuters

The White House is set to release President Donald Trump’s 2027 budget on Friday, a sweeping blueprint that could boost Pentagon spending to $US1.5 trillion ($2.19 trillion), the largest of its kind in decades, as the US focuses on military investments rather than other domestic programs.

Even before the US-led war against Iran, the Republican president had indicated he wanted to bolster defence spending to modernise the military for 21st-century threats. Separately, the Pentagon last month proposed $US200 billion for the war effort and to backfill munitions and supplies.

Trump, speaking ahead of an address to the nation this week about the Iran war, signalled the military is his priority, setting up a clash ahead in Congress.

“We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care,” Trump said at a private White House event Wednesday, Washington time.

“It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare – all these individual things,” he said. “They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal [basis].”

AP

Would Donald Trump’s pledge to strike Iran’s bridges (the US military hit a bridge today) and power plants amount to a war crime? Here’s Reuters’ report on the matter.

The 1949 Geneva Conventions on humanitarian conduct in war prohibit attacks on sites considered essential for ‌civilians.

The Geneva Conventions and additional protocols say that parties involved in military conflict must distinguish between “civilian objects and military objectives”, and that attacks on civilian objects are forbidden.

“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two​ to three weeks. We are going to bring them back to the ​Stone Ages (sic), ⁠where they belong,” Trump said in his address on Thursday, Australian time.