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Italian PM Giorgia Meloni.

It’s not me, it’s you: Italy’s Meloni is not the only one seeking distance from Donald

The US president once called the Italian PM “a very special person”, but relations have soured.

  • David Crowe

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George Clooney said Trump’s threat that a “whole civilisation will die” was a crime.

‘That’s a crime’: George Clooney slams Donald Trump over Iran war threat

The actor was speaking to students when he condemned the US president’s warning that a “whole civilisation” would die if Iran did not meet his demands.

  • Kayla Olaya
Donald Trump during his primetime address.

Key takeaways from Trump’s address: no end date for Iran war, few details on strategy ahead

The Iran war is fast becoming a signature of his second-term agenda and the speech was a capstone to a remarkable day flexing presidential power.

  • Lisa Mascaro and Paul Wiseman
US President Donald Trump taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

It’s easy for Trump to weaken NATO but pulling out of the pact is a lot harder

The US president has never been a fan of the relationship, but there are good reasons why NATO has lasted for 77 years. It will take more than one president to change that.

  • David Crowe
The US-designed Patriot air-defence missile system.

The next big Iran war question: Who will lose from the missile shortage?

Washington’s stockpile of vital missile-intercepting warheads was already running low. It is now in even worse shape.

  • David Crowe
Locals visit Muscat Anchorage in Oman near the Strait of Hormuz on March 30.

Giant oil tanker off Dubai hit by Iranian strike after Trump’s latest threats

The US president has warned America will obliterate Iran’s energy plants and oil wells if it doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz.

  • Alexander Cornwell, Trevor Hunnicutt and Yomna Ehab
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Trump Starmer Iran Hormuz

Why Europe’s break with Trump is not just a gulf about the Gulf

The split with Europe has been a long time coming, making it more than a dispute about the Iran war.

  • David Crowe
France’s sole carrier Charles de Gaulle is positioned in the eastern Mediterranean.

The French pocket super-carrier that could help shield Hormuz

France has deployed its sole aircraft carrier in an “unprecedented” naval build-up that could be used to protect cargo vessels from Iranian drones.

  • Michele Kambas, John Irish and Staff reporter
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Canada’s PM, Mark Carney, at the Global Progress Action Summit held in London in September.

O Canada, O Albanese: This middle power roars as Australia’s exemplar

Prime Minister Mark Carney, who visits Australia this week, dares to project his nation as an important player in global politics. Australia must do the same.

  • George Brandis
The US is due to sell Australia at least three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS agreement.

Australia seals UK defence deal with $300m for AUKUS sub reactors

The new spending is the first payment for Rolls-Royce equipment to be installed in the first AUKUS boats, as Defence Minister Pat Conroy visits his British counterpart in London.

  • David Crowe