US-Iran war updates: China teases ‘countermeasures’ as Donald Trump threatens fresh tariffs

We are wrapping up our rolling coverage of the war in Iran for today.

Thanks for joining us as we brought you the latest events as they happened.

Join us again tomorrow for more news and live updates.

The Red Cross has delivered it’s first emergency aid shipment to Iran since the war begun on February 28.

In a statement on Tuesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said assistance, including five truckloads, had been delivered in Monday.

The remaining shipment, including nine trucks, will arrive later this week.

Comprising of blankets, jerrycans, hygiene kits and solar lamps, the delivery is expected to help nearly 25,000 people.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has spoken with the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, over the phone about de-escalation efforts in the region.

During the call on Monday, the pair assesed the situation in the region after the US-iran talks in Islamabad concluded.

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will co-chair a video conference to discuss a plan to “restore freedom and navigation in the Strait of Hormuz when security conditions allow.”

The summit will be held in Paris on Friday and will include countries willing to take part in the defensive mission to restore a flow of navigation in the waterway.

“The summit will advance work towards a coordinated, independent, multinational plan to safeguard international shipping once the conflict ends,” a spokesperson for the British Prime Minister’s office said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has thrown her support behind Pope Leo after he was criticised by Donald Trump.

“I express my solidarity with Pope Leo, frankly I would not feel very comfortable in a society where religious leaders do what political leaders say,” the Italian leader said.

Meloni made the comment while speaking to reporters at a conference about the wine industry in Verona.

- With Reuters

An oil tanker has transited the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday after it abandoned an earlier attempt to exit the waterway on Monday.

According to Vortexa data cited by shipping data firm Loyd’s List, The Rich Starry had been waiting off the coast of the United Arab Emirates before it made the move.

It marks one of the first tests of the US blockade.

The US military said on Monday the blockade only applied to ships travelling to or from Iranian ports.

It is unclear whether the Rich Starry was docked in Iran or was carrying Iranian oil.

Anthony Albanese has laid a wreath in honour of Australian soldiers who died liberating much of Brunei and then-British Borneo from the Japanese at the end of the Second World War.

At a memorial with a beach on one side and a grassy children’s playground on the other, Mr Albanese said it was a great honour to pay his respects to the 127 Australians who died in this area during Operation Oboe in 1945.

Clad in a light blue suit in the sweltering Brunei humidity, he and Pehin Halbi, the country’s second minister of defence and minister at the prime minister’s office, laid a wreath at the low stone monument.

Foreign minister Penny Wong and Brunei’s minister of culture, youth and sports and minister in attendance of Brunei Dato Nazami also laid wreaths.

In 1945 Australians landed at Muara Beach, now the site of the memorial, in the dying months of the Second World War.

They then moved inland, freeing Brunei’s oil fields, rubber plantations and production facilities.

After the military action, they worked with locals and allies to restart production at Brunei’s oil fields, allowing the country to resume oil trade in March 1946.

“The efforts that Australian serviceman made during World War Two, the incredible sacrifice… we’re here paying our respects,” Mr Albanese told reporters in brief remarks during the visit to the memorial.

Mr Albanese said he looked forward to meeting Brunei’s sultan on Wednesday, where the pair will discuss food and fuel security in a formal meeting at the palace.

Spain has called on China to to do more on the diplomatic front to help end the war in Iran.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he believed the Asian giant was the main gllobal interlocutor with the power to help terminate the conflict.

“I find it very difficult to find other interlocutors, beyond China, who can resolve this situation created in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz,” he said on Tuesday after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jingping during his fourth trip to China in three years.

France has reiterated its stance that Lebanon must be included in the initial ceasefire agreement.

“The ceasefire must absolutely include Lebanon, which under no circumstances can be the scaepgoat of the Israeli governemnt,” French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

“Destroying Lebanon, targeting the Lebanese state, does not weaken Hezbollah — quite the opposite, it strengthens it.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will sit down for high-stakes talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington as the US pushes to cool tensions on a volatile front.

The US-brokered meeting will bring together the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors, alongside Washington’s envoy to Beirut, in a rare attempt to open dialogue despite the ongoing conflict.

But the talks are already under a cloud, with Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem flatly rejecting any negotiations involving Lebanon’s government and Israel.

He vowed that the Iran-backed group would continue its “resistance” against Israeli aggression, showing no appetite for compromise.

Despite the pushback, US officials insist the door to diplomacy must remain open.

“Israel is at war with Hezbollah, not Lebanon,” a State Department official said, arguing that there was no reason the countries should not be talking.