Laura Tingle

The prospect of nuclear weapons being used in either Ukraine or the Middle East, rather than being fired between Moscow, Washington or Beijing has risen.

Israel goes from looking like the new regional hegemon to looking like it is under greater threat now than it has in years, while Iran now has room to rebuild its proxies.

In the wake of an outcry over its treatment of detained activists, Israel has focused on messaging as its actions undermine its support from the international community. 

The question for the Gulf states is whether they are happy for Israel to be the dominant player in the Middle East.

The Albanese government insists Australia is not involved in any "offensive action against Iran" amid reports the UAE, which had been supplied a Wedgetail aircraft, carried out military strikes against the country.

Displays of military strength and perpetual promises of peace do little to mask the reality that major powers aren't always able to control the wars they helped create.

The company that provides much of Australia's satellite surveillance for real-time disaster management may also soon be sharing its defence technology, as Finland becomes the latest European country to seek closer ties on security.

Iran gives the US a 30-day deadline on its counteroffer for peace, which does not mention its nuclear ambitions.

Donald Trump's earlier signalling that he will neither walk away from the war declaring a victory or escalate it, but will try to starve the Iranians out, suggests there is no clear sign of how this war could end.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Israel Defense Forces have committed more targeted killings of journalists than any other government's military since 1992.

The world is stuck watching a performative series of announcements about meetings that could, may, will happen, involving a president not dealing with the reality that he is in a weak and confused bargaining position.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has returned early from his trade tour in Asia, after news of the fire at Australia's largest oil refinery.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insists Australia's sanctions on Russia and Iran will remain in place as the world scrambles to secure oil supplies amid a global crisis triggered by the Strait of Hormuz blockade. 

The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's diplomatic efforts to shore up Australia's fuel and fertiliser supplies continue - he's been in Brunei and is heading to Malaysia.

Donald Trump's planned United States naval blockade of Iranian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz reveals the president once again playing loose with the fortunes of financial markets and the global economy as he struggles to find a way out of the war that he and Israel started.

Extraordinary reporting reveals how Israel made the case for regime change in Iran — and how the fallout is driving a profound shift in American opinion, amid deep uncertainty about what the war has achieved.

By defining the framework set out by Iran as "workable", the US president has ceded ground before negotiations have even begun.

Donald Trump's increasingly erratic language means that a US president's word — which would have once been regarded with gravitas — holds perhaps only the same weight as the word of the "evil" regime he says he has obliterated several times.

Global leaders are giving up the pretence of diplomatic niceties as they lose patience with the US president's actions. 

US President Donald Trump has used his national address to claim America is winning in the war with Iran and maintained the conflict has more weeks to run.

While markets struggle to price a sudden collapse in oil supply, military analysts are sounding the alarm on the rate countries are burning through weapons stockpiles. 

The US president said last month that his planned visit to China on March 31 would be "a wild one". A lot has changed since that confident declaration and most of it has weakened his position.

Amid Iran's missile and drone attacks, a weird sense of normality in Dubai and Abu Dhabi sits awkwardly with the news coverage of burning buildings and reports of strikes on airports.

Iran's actions in attacking neighbouring countries were unprecedented, "almost unhinged" and irrational, according to a senior United Arab Emirates minister.

If there ever was a strategy behind Donald Trump's decision to blow up the Middle East, it is lying in tatters as the second week of the Iran war draws to a close.