Sasha Barbagat

A listener production.

Thanks, Helen.

We start today again in the Middle East as tensions continue to escalate between the US and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.

Donald Trump has claimed the US has, quote, total control over the key waterway and has issued an order to his navy to shoot and kill any boat laying mines in the strait.

Meantime, on another front of this war, peace talks are getting underway today.

The US ambassadors from Lebanon and Israel

Israel are meeting in Washington, with Beirut set to ask for an extension of the ceasefire between the pair.

Tel Aviv, meantime, says it has no serious disagreements with Lebanon, but wants to destroy militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and operates in the country.

And look, just on the Strait of Hormuz, Trump making that threat about any boats laying mines in the Strait, there has been a Pentagon assessment that's estimated it could take six months to completely clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines that have been deployed by the Iranian army.

Now, some officials within the White House have come out to question that and say, well, maybe that's not quite accurate.

But there is this one assessment at least, and from the Pentagon, might I add, that says that

We could be, even if this war ends tomorrow, it still might not be safe for ships to use it for six months.

So, yeah, the ongoing ripple effects of this war that we see here in Australia, the petrol, the groceries, you know, any hope that we'll see a swift end once the war is over, they continue to fade.

The details were made public by a judge yesterday, along with other material that was before the New South Wales local court for his successful bail last week.

Now, a statement by the Office of the Special Investigator said they held concerns that the 47-year-old was attempting to relocate outside Australia, but that the final destination and duration of this relocation was unclear.

Robert Smith is facing five counts of the war crime of murder.

He's yet to enter pleas, but has categorically denied the allegations.

Now, you might have seen this topic bubbling away this week amid a campaign by independent Senator David Pocock and the Australia Institute, both of which want a 25% tax slapped on gas exports.

And we did deep dive this yesterday morning as part of a broader look at tax reform.

The ep is in the show notes if you want to hear more after this episode.