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Israel’s plan to kill Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was reportedly taken off the table by the US president.

ISRAEL AND IRAN CONTINUE ATTACKS

Israel and Iran continued to launch attacks against each other on Sunday despite international calls to de-escalate their conflict, as reports claim US President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The New York Times says Israel bombarded the Iranian capital Tehran with a new wave of strikes on Sunday afternoon before Iran launched missiles and drones at Israel in response, with reports that explosions were heard over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, while the port city of Haifa was struck on Sunday evening. The BBC reports Israel has confirmed it is continuing to fire at targets within Iran throughout the night.

The NYT said Israel’s earlier daytime attack on Tehran came as both sides were still assessing the damage from assaults on Saturday evening. “Overnight, Israeli fighter jets bombarded Tehran, setting the sky ablaze with flames from burning fuel reservoirs from the country’s vital energy industry, while Iran launched volleys of ballistic missiles at Israel, some of which eluded the country’s air defences,” the NYT reports.

The BBC quotes Iranian media reports as saying 128 people have been killed in the country as of Saturday midday, while 10 people are reported to have been killed in Iran’s attacks on Saturday night. Iran’s health ministry says Israeli strikes have killed 224 people across the country since Friday.

In the last couple of hours, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given a live interview on Fox News, saying: “The issue here is not de-escalation. The issue here is not ceasefire. The issue is to stop those things that threaten our survival.”

Israel has claimed it launched “Operation Rising Lion”, which initially targeted Iran’s military command and nuclear sites, on Friday “to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival”. The Israeli PM said Iran has taken steps to “weaponise” in recent months and that, “if not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time”, the BBC reports. The broadcaster adds Iran has denied that it has a nuclear weapons program.

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Netanyahu said he and Trump are “fully coordinated” as the latter took to his social media platform to try and claim there would be “peace soon” between Israel and Iran and called on both sides to “make a deal”. Writing on Truth Social, the 79-year-old claimed: “Many calls and meetings now taking place. I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that’s OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!”

In the last couple of hours, Reuters has reported that Trump vetoed an alleged Israeli plan to kill Khamenei.

A senior US administration official is quoted as saying: “Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do, we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership.” The Associated Press has also run the story and sourced the claims to a US official familiar with the matter.

The newswire states Israel “had informed the Trump administration in recent days that they had developed a credible plan to kill Khamenei. After being briefed on the plan, the White House made clear to Israeli officials that Trump was opposed to the Israelis making the move”.

AP reports the Trump administration “is desperate to keep Israel’s military operation aimed at decapitating Iran’s nuclear program from exploding into an even more expansive conflict”.

On Sunday, the US president told America’s ABC News: “We’re not involved in it [Israel’s strikes on Iran]. It’s possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved.”

The New York Times adds that the head of the Iranian traffic police, residents and Iranian news media report the roads leading out of Tehran have been packed with heavy traffic “as people scramble to find a way to leave the capital”. The Guardian reports Netanyahu earlier on Sunday said Iran will pay a “heavy price” after Israeli civilians were killed in the overnight strikes.

Elsewhere, the newspaper also reports European leaders plan to spend the opening day of the G7 summit in Canada asking Trump to justify his aforementioned confidence in a peace deal between Israel and Iran.

ALBANESE IN CANADA FOR TRUMP TALKS

Speaking of the G7 summit, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will land in Canada on Sunday (local time) ahead of his much-discussed talks with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the gathering of world leaders.

The AAP highlights Albanese will get his meeting (depending on world events and Trump’s mood) in Kananaskis, Alberta, on Tuesday local time.

Heading into the meeting with topics such as tariff exemptions, the future of AUKUS, and global unrest no doubt top of mind, the PM told business leaders in Seattle on Saturday: “The combination of Australia and the United States when we’re working together is an unbeatable combination.”

The Australian Financial Review reports Albanese will push back on demands from the US to ratchet up its defence budget when he meets with the president. The paper also quotes the PM as saying he was sure the Middle East would “be a topic of conversation” during the leaders’ meeting, but there was no expectation Australia would be asked to provide Israel with military support.

Before Albanese talks to Trump, he will hold bilateral talks with a series of other world leaders, including the host, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. AAP states the pair are expected to discuss tariffs (most likely how to navigate Trump’s demands), defence, critical minerals, climate change and the situation in the Middle East.

While in Seattle over the weekend, Albanese visited Amazon’s cloud computing subsidiary, Amazon Web Services. On that theme, The Australian reports the prime minister “is facing internal dissent over Amazon’s access to lucrative public contracts … while three ministers are among at least 17 government MPs who have accused the company of exploiting its workers”.

The paper says the “internal disquiet” comes as Communication Minister Anika Wells prepares to sign off “one of the biggest federal government contracts with the company — a deal with the National Broadband Network to deliver satellite internet services to the bush”.

The broadsheet also reports on the fact the Reserve Bank of Australia will now reveal how its board members vote on interest rate decisions, although it won’t name them. The Nine papers have also picked up the story, saying the change is part of the reforms to the central bank about to be finalised by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and RBA governor Michele Bullock.

The papers point out the move will bring the RBA “largely in line with central banks around the world”, with those in favour of the change saying it will improve decision-making. The changes will see the vote decision made public in the case of a split decision by the board.

The Nine papers also point out that the financial markets are currently putting the chance of another rate cut at the next RBA board meeting in July at 97%. The AFR, meanwhile, says the Israeli strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure are causing concern “that a longer-term oil price spike will fuel inflation and derail hopes of interest rate cuts”.

The AAP reports this morning that tariffs and global conflict have knocked Australians’ optimism in the economy and trust in the US to 20-year lows.

“Australians are clearly unsettled by what they’ve seen of the second Trump administration, with almost two-thirds (64%) now holding little to no trust in the United States to act responsibly — the lowest level in the history of the Lowy Institute Poll,” the institute’s executive director Michael Fullilove said.

Guardian Australia over the weekend reported: “An Australian man who was detained upon arrival at Los Angeles airport and deported back to Melbourne says United States border officials told him it was due to his writing on pro-Palestine protests by university students.”

ON A LIGHTER NOTE…

A museum in Italy has called on visitors to “respect art” after a chair covered in hundreds of crystals was broken.

Last week, the Palazzo Maffei in Verona released footage of a couple taking pictures of each other pretending to sit on artwork by Italian artist Nicola Bolla, known as the “Van Gogh” chair, the BBC reports. The video, which has gone viral, shows the man slipping and falling on the chair.

Museum director Vanessa Carlon said of the incident: “Sometimes we lose our brains to take a picture, and we don’t think about the consequences.

“Of course it was an accident, but these two people left without speaking to us — that isn’t an accident. This is a nightmare for any museum”.

The BBC reports the museum has notified the police, but the pair have yet to be identified.

Say What?

Mike, I have to go. I am taking a call from Putin. Donald Trump

The US president spoke to The Atlantic’s Michael Scherer on Saturday (his 79th birthday) ahead of his heavily debated military parade. Trump attempted to counter the criticism levelled at him by the likes of Tucker Carlson, as well as trying to defend his promised ability to end conflicts around the world, as more rage every day.

CRIKEY RECAP

The Victorian Liberals are beyond help. Let them sink and start again BERNARD KEANE Former Victorian Liberals leader John Pesutto and Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming (Images: AAP) But the Victorian Liberals not merely have the look and stench of losers about them — they appear committed to maintaining and strengthening that status. A vote for the Liberals is a vote for infighting, lunatic right-wingers and dysfunction. If the party could be towed out to sea and sunk, it would do more good as a piece of marine ecology than in holding a terrible government to account or offering a plausible political alternative. Victorian Liberals actually interested in being electorally competitive and offering a palatable set of policies to ordinary Victorians, centred around the economy, housing and better infrastructure and health and education services, may have to consider going elsewhere to seek office. Teal candidates and the Greens have demonstrated that it may take several elections to succeed and start supplanting the big parties in parliament, but it can be done. The alternative at the moment is endless brawling on a road to nowhere.

With six months until the teen social media ban, Australia still hasn’t figured out how it’ll work CAM WILSON It’s less than six months until Australia’s “world-first” social media ban comes into effect. On December 11, some social media companies will be legally required to take “reasonable steps” to stop Australians under the age of 16 from having accounts on their platforms. So, which platforms will be included in the ban? And what reasonable steps — using facial analysis or submitting government ID — will these companies need to take to avoid fines of close to $50 million?

Reader reply: I’m a public housing tenant — Labor must learn from the Greens’ common sense FIONA ROSS The ideology that the market will solve the housing crisis and homelessness is misguided. Extensive amounts of public money gifted to the social housing industry at the federal and state levels would be far better spent on strengthening the public housing sector. Public housing is an essential public asset. It should be managed wisely by the government on behalf of the Victorian people, now and for the future. Plans that will lead to the destruction and privatisation of public housing and the displacement of communities from their homes are unconscionable and indefensible, and should be scrapped.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Air India plane crash death toll rises to 270 (BBC)

Authorities still searching for suspect in shooting of two Minnesota state lawmakers (Associated Press)

At least eight killed near Gaza food sites as Palestinians fear global attention switching to Iran (The Guardian)

Anti-tourism protests break out in Spain, Italy and Portugal (Sky News)

The Clintons and Kamala Harris descend on a Hamptons wedding of liberal royalty (The New York Times) ($)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Trump loves playing toy soldiers, but it is not a game – The Herald’s View (The Sydney Morning Herald): Few seemed to notice the ironies: Trump glories in military might, yet was medically exempt from serving in Vietnam in 1968 after a foot doctor and friendly family business associate diagnosed heel spurs; he later attacked Republican rival John McCain, a navy flyer and POW at the Hanoi Hilton, saying, “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.” The $69 million parade comes just months after Trump slashed funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Meanwhile, as Trump bathed in birthday adulation, protests erupted across the US with the “No Kings” group adding a personal anti-authoritarian slap in the face to the president for defying court orders and questionable deportations.

Israel’s attacks on Iran are already hurting global oil prices, and the impact is set to worsen — Joaquin Vespignani (The Conversation): The weekend attacks on Iran’s oil facilities — widely seen as part of escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran — represent a dangerous moment for global energy security.

While the physical damage to Iran’s production facilities is still being assessed, the broader strategic implications are already rippling through global oil markets. There is widespread concern about supply security and the inflationary consequences for both advanced and emerging economies.