Live: Iran says Hormuz strait will remain unsafe as Nato downs missile over Turkey

US President Donald Trump has told congressional Republicans that the war with Iran could be over “pretty quickly”, as he defended the military campaign and outlined Washington’s objectives in the conflict.

The United States and Israel launched the campaign against Iran on 28 February, with large-scale air and missile strikes on Iranian military infrastructure, including air-defence systems, missile launchers and naval assets.

The first day of the operation killed Iran’s then supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The war has now entered its second week, and in his latest speech, Trump has highlighted what he described as the successes of Operation Epic Fury and suggested that it could end soon.

Australian Greens leader Larissa Waters criticised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s decision to send military support to the United Arab Emirates, saying Australia should be calling for peace rather than sending weapons.

In a statement, Waters warned that Australians do not want to be drawn into what she described as the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.

“Australians do not want to get dragged into Trump and Netanyahu’s illegal war on Iran,” the senator said in a statement.

“Labor shouldn’t be sending troops to help a military that’s killed 150 schoolchildren in a primary school bombing,” she said. “That will only escalate an illegal conflict that’s already spiralling out of control, and leave Australia trapped in yet another forever war.”

Prime Minister Albanese has said Australia will deploy a military surveillance aircraft to the Middle East following a request from the UAE, as well as medium-range air-to-air missiles.

The Syrian army on Tuesday Hezbollah forces in Lebanon have fired artillery shells towards its positions in the town of Saraghaya, located west of Damascus, according to the SANA news agency.

“We have detected the arrival of reinforcements for Hezbollah militias at the Syrian-Lebanese border, and we are conducting monitoring and assessing the situation,” the army said. 

“We are communicating with the Lebanese army and studying the appropriate options to take the necessary actions,” it added.

Explosions were heard across Tehran on Tuesday as Israel continued strikes on Iranian targets, with blasts shaking buildings and disrupting power in parts of the capital and nearby cities.

Residents reported repeated explosions throughout the day, while authorities have not provided details on the targets or damage.

Iran said it had responded with a new wave of missile attacks under what it calls Operation True Promise 4.

Officials said heavier missiles were used in the latest barrage, adding that future launches would involve warheads weighing at least 1,000 kilograms.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday said Tehran, not Washington, will determine when the war ends, rejecting comments by US  President Donald Trump about the conflict’s timeline.

IRGC spokesperson Brigadier General Ali Mohammad Naeini described Trump’s statements as “lies” and accused him of trying to claim false military achievements.

Speaking to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, Naeini said Iran’s missile capabilities remain intact and that attacks are continuing with larger numbers of projectiles.

“We know that your ammunition is about to run out and that you are looking for an honourable way out of the war. Why don’t you tell the truth to the American people? Trump doesn’t want Americans to know that all US military infrastructure in the Persian Gulf region has been destroyed,” he said.

Israel’s military warned residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate ahead of planned strikes on buildings linked to the Al-Qard al-Hasan financial association. The Israeli army said the institution is involved in financing Hezbollah’s activities.

“I again call on the residents of the southern suburbs to evacuate their homes, according to the evacuation routes we have published,” Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X.

The US State Department has ordered non-essential staff and their families to leave its consulate in Adana in southern Turkey, according to a report by The Washington Post.

Officials said the departure is a precautionary measure as tensions continue to escalate across the region.

The US has also issued warnings to its citizens to remain vigilant amid rising security concerns linked to the widening conflict in the Middle East.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday said it destroyed 10 advanced US radar systems across the region and downed several expensive drones during the ongoing conflict. 

According to a statement reported by Iranian media, the IRGC also said Iranian forces are anticipating the arrival of US naval forces in the Strait of Hormuz, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.

The group warned that “either there will be security for all or no security for all” in the region.

An Iranian military official on Tuesday said Tehran would block oil exports in the region to countries it considers enemies or their allies, Fars News Agency reported.

The official said Iran would not allow the export of “a single litre of oil” to those states until further notice.

The statement comes as tensions escalate across the Gulf amid the widening conflict. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, which has affected the global economy as oil prices have skyrocketed. 

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said the ongoing US-Israeli war and its wider spillover in the region could have “direct and serious repercussions” for Syria.

He added that Damascus supports Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s position on disarming Hezbollah and reiterated Syria’s condemnation of attacks on Arab sovereignty.

Mohammad Raad, head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, said the group has no option but to continue fighting Israel.

The official criticised the Lebanese government for condemning the group’s rocket attacks.

“Lebanon today is not choosing between war and peace,” Raad said in a televised address. “It is choosing between war and submission to humiliating conditions imposed by the enemy.”

US President Donald Trump said the US-Israeli war on Iran could be a “short-term excursion”.

Speaking at a Republican gathering in Doral, Florida, Trump said the US military was already “very far” ahead of the four-to-five-week timeframe initially estimated for the assault on Iran.

In an earlier interview with CBS, he said: “I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Israel and the United States are trying to create “discord” between Tehran and neighbouring countries.

According to Tasnim news agency, Pezeshkian said Iran remains ready to ease regional tensions if countries hosting US bases do not allow their territory to be used to launch attacks on Iran.

He also said Tehran is willing to form a joint team with Turkey to investigate the “alleged” missile attack on Turkish territory.

Erdogan offered his condolences over the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian casualties, and wished the new leader Mojtaba Khamenei success.

Hezbollah said it launched rockets at an Israeli military position near the Lebanese border town of Houla.

In a statement, the group said the attack took place this morning and was carried out in response to Israeli strikes on dozens of Lebanese towns and cities, including Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The Iraqi armed group Saraya Awliya al-Dam said it carried out a drone attack on the Victoria military airbase at Baghdad airport.

The group claimed responsibility for the strike in a statement on its Telegram channel.

The incident follows a series of drone attacks in Iraq in recent days, including two drones that targeted a US military base and a hotel in Erbil in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Last week, a building in Sulaimaniyah was also hit by a drone strike. Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed flames rising from the site.