US and Israeli strikes against Iran ‌and Tehran’s retaliation has prompted precautionary shutdowns of oil and gas facilities across the Middle East resulting in surging energy prices.

Qatar has halted its production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with QatarEnergy is set ‌to declare ‌force majeure on shipments of LNG, a source with knowledge told ​Reuters.

The development followed the suspension of most oil production in Iraqi Kurdistan and several major Israeli gas fields, throttling exports to Egypt.

Saudi authorities reported they intercepted Iranian drones that attacked the Ras Tanura oil refinery near Dammam and the refinery was shut down as a precaution, Saudi state television reported.

Benchmark Dutch and British wholesale gas prices soared by almost 50 per cent but the European Commission does not expect the ‌widening conflict in the Middle East to have any immediate impact on the European Union’s security of oil and gas supplies, ‌a spokesperson said.

“We’re ​not taking any emergency measures or anything like this. There is ‌no shortage, there is no emergency for gas. Gas imports are well diversified,” the spokesperson said when asked about gas supplies.

The EU’s oil coordination group will meet within 48 hours to assess the situation.

Earlier on Monday, Qatar’s government said an energy facility belonging to QatarEnergy was attacked by two Iranian drones, with authorities assessing the damage.

Qatari LNG production is equivalent to about 20 per cent  of global supply. The Gulf country is the world’s second largest LNG exporter after the US.and plays a major role in balancing Asian and European LNG ‌market needs.

Oil prices surged as much as 13 per day intraday to above $82 ($A116) a barrel, the highest since January 2025, as the conflict ground shipping to a near halt in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil supply flows.

Insurance companies are cancelling war risk coverage for vessels ‌in the Gulf with at least four tankers damaged, two seafarers killed and 150 ships stranded around the Strait of Hormuz. 

Shipping through the strait between Iran and Oman, ‌which carries around one-fifth of oil consumed globally as well as large quantities of gas, has ground to a near halt after vessels in the area were hit as Iran retaliated to US and Israeli strikes.

A bomb-carrying drone boat struck a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Monday, killing one mariner, Oman said.

Iran has been threatening vessels approaching the Strait of Hormuz and is believed to have launched multiple attacks.

State oil giant Saudi Aramco’s 550,000 barrels per day (bpd) Ras Tanura refinery, which was shut as a precautionary measure, ‌is part of an ‌energy complex on the kingdom’s ⁠Gulf coast which also serves as a critical export terminal for Saudi crude oil.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, which exported 200,000 bpd via pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port in February, companies including DNO, Gulf Keystone Petroleum , Dana Gas and HKN Energy have stopped output at their fields as a precaution, with no damage reported. 

Iran, the third largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumps about 4.5 per cent of ​global oil supplies. Iran’s output is about 3.3 million bpd of crude, plus 1.3 million bpd of condensate and other liquids.

with agencies

Rio Tinto has approved the restart of Richards Bay Minerals’ $US473 million ($A668 ‌million) Zulti South project in South Africa, six years after halting ‌the venture due to community unrest.

Richards Bay Minerals, 74 per cent-owned by Rio Tinto, mines the mineral-rich sands of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, extracting mostly ‌zircon, rutile, ‌ilmenite ⁠and titanium oxide used in the ​manufacture of paint, sunscreen and smartphones.

The Zulti South project is key to Richards Bay Minerals’ plans to extend the life of its ⁠operations to ‌2050 ​as the ore body at Zulti North declines, ​the company ‌said in a statement on Monday.

“The decision to proceed ​also reflects improved security conditions and strengthened community partnerships,” Richards Bay Minerals managing director ​Werner ​Duvenhage said.

China ​Harbour Engineering Company has ‌been appointed as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project.

Construction is scheduled to start during the first quarter of 2026, with ​initial commercial production expected in the fourth ​quarter of ⁠2028.

Airline shares have plunged, with Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, Australia’s Qantas Airways, Singapore Airlines and Japan Airlines down more than 5 per cent after the US and Israel launched weekend strikes on Iran, disrupting travel and sending oil prices surging.

Global air travel remained in turmoil ‌as war in Iran forced the closure of key Middle Eastern hubs including Dubai and Doha for a third day, stranding tens of thousands of passengers worldwide.

Oil prices surged 7 per cent to their highest in months as Iran and Israel stepped up attacks in ‌the Middle East, damaging tankers and disrupting shipments from the key producing region.

Shares in Qantas fell 10.4 per cent to the lowest level in 10 months when the market opened in Australia on Monday, before paring some losses to trade down about 6 per cent, even though it does not fly to the Middle East and instead relies on a codeshare partnership with Dubai’s Emirates.

Shares in other Asian carriers, including Japan’s ANA Holdings, Air China , China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines , Malaysia’s AirAsia X and Taiwan’s China Airlines and EVA Airways all fell at least 4 per cent.

“The sharp sell-off in Asian airline shares reflects market concerns over higher fuel costs, flight cancellations, and incremental costs from rerouting flights following airspace and airport closures,” said Morningstar equity analyst Nicole Lim.

She ‌said most Asian airlines had ‌partially hedged their fuel price exposure, cushioning ⁠the impact of short-term spikes, and some carriers could benefit from bookings by travellers displaced by cancelled flights.

Cathay Pacific, whose shares fell as much as ​7 per cent before paring losses to 2.9 per cent, said it had cancelled all of its flights to the Middle East, which include passenger services to Dubai and Riyadh, until further notice.

“We are waiving rebooking and rerouting charges for the affected customers,” it said.

Singapore Airlines cancelled flights to and from Dubai through to March 7, while Japan Airlines suspended its Tokyo-Doha flights for the time being.

“For (East) Asian carriers, the number of flights they have to the airports that have been shut are rather limited,” said Singapore-based independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie. 

“But of course you have the potential impact of higher oil prices and the overall political/economic instability globally.”

He added Indian carriers were at a particular disadvantage given their heavy Middle Eastern flying schedules catering mostly to migrant workers and ⁠a ban on using Pakistan’s airspace affecting their flights to and from Europe.

Air India said its flights between India and Zurich, Copenhagen ‌and Birmingham were cancelled on ​Monday alongside those to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Qatar. It added that Air India flights to New York and Newark would stop in Rome to refuel.

Data provider VariFlight said airlines in mainland China had so far ​cancelled 26.5 per cent of ‌flights to and from the Middle East from March 2 to March 8.

“Overall, the pattern points to sharp near-term disruption but relatively limited revisions further out in the week, suggesting carriers are still holding back from broader ​schedule resets while monitoring developments,” VariFlight said.

The ripple effects of the Middle Eastern conflict have impacted travellers across the world.

Dubai was the world’s busiest international airport in 2024, according to Airports Council International, with its 92 million travellers topping London’s Heathrow by 13 million. Doha was the world’s 10th busiest international airport that year.

Claims toxic emissions from two gas plants pose a low risk to human health cannot be trusted and a public inquiry is needed, an environmental watchdog says.

The Northern Territory’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has been accused of being “asleep at the wheel” after releasing an independent human health risk assessment on the under-reporting of emissions by gas giant INPEX at its Darwin plant.

The assessment, commissioned by the NT’s chief health officer, found levels of benzene and toluene – volatile organic compounds linked with health risks – emitted from the Ichthys LNG plant were below acceptable guidelines.

“This means the risk to human health is very low,” the authority said in a statement.

But the Environment Centre NT has urged the authority to hold a public inquiry into the operations of two gas giants on Darwin Harbour.

The centre’s executive director Kirsty Howey told AAP the report followed community concern about under-reporting of cancer-causing chemicals by INPEX and two decades of methane leaks by Santos.

Dr Howey urged the authority to hold a public inquiry into the operations of INPEX and Santos, saying claims there was a low risk to human health could not be trusted.

She noted the report criticised INPEX’s documentation and quality checks, finding “serious non-compliance” and systematic under-reporting of emissions.

“This is a major breach of trust by INPEX and the NT EPA has been asleep at the wheel yet again,” she said.

“This is now such a serious and systemic problem that quick and dirty reviews behind closed doors with narrow terms of reference that manufacture the appearance of safety just do not cut it with the community.”   

A rigorous independent inquiry into the worsening problem of air pollution was needed to re-establish trust in gas industry regulation, she said.  

The Australian Medical Association NT president John Zorbas said the report supported the widespread view independent monitoring was needed to ensure the air in Darwin was safe and prevent future under-reporting of emissions.

“Public trust has been eroded and we can’t expect individual companies to act in our best interests,” he told ABC News.

The authority said more work was needed to assess the cumulative impact of all emission sources and strengthen air quality monitoring.

The NT government was reviewing licence conditions for hydrocarbon facilities in the Darwin area to ensure health risks from air emissions were adequately addressed, it said.

INPEX said in October it had identified errors in the way emissions from its Ichthys LNG plant were calculated.

“INPEX takes full accountability for these unintentional errors which have been reported to the NT EPA,” it said.

Around 800 million burgers worth of Australian beef may need to be diverted into alternative markets, as China enforces import quotas limiting the amount of the red meat entering the country.

Southeast Asian countries appear to be the best bet for the extra volume, says RaboResearch’s Angus Gidley-Baird.

The senior animal protein analyst at the Rabobank’s research arm said diverting additional beef to Japan and South Korea may be a challenge, while Australia was likely to experience stiffer competition from Brazil in the US market in 2026. 

China is the world’s biggest beef importer and a favoured destination for Australian product.

But on New Year’s Day, Beijing unveiled 55 per cent ‍tariffs on beef imports over certain quotas to protect the local industry. 

Australia will be hit with a levy for anything above 205,000 million tonnes this year under the new rules that came into force on January 1.

With the domestic industry on track to produce high volumes in 2026, Mr Gidley-Baird said as much as 100,000 tonnes may need diverting into different markets.

“Distributing Australian product across a range of markets – most likely through Southeast Asia – appears to be the best solution,” he said.

Australia exported 270,000 tonnes of beef to China in 2024/25, worth about $2.8 billion, according to figures from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences.

The US remains the biggest market for Australia’s red meat and demand for local beef actually increased in 2025 despite a 10 per cent tariff imposed by the Trump administration earlier in the year.

When that tariff was later removed, Australian products had an advantage over other nations facing border levies.

Yet with most US tariffs on beef now abolished, competition from South American producers and other importers can expect to increase in 2026. 

Europe may become a bigger destination for Australian beef as Canberra pushes for higher caps on quotas for the red meat as part of ongoing negotiations for a EU-Australia free trade deal.

Rabobank’s quarterly report on global beef markets is forecasting the strong prices and high production volumes of late 2025 will continue into early 2026. 

“Some weather forecasts are suggesting conditions could get drier in the second quarter and, if this was to occur, we expect to see a lift in slaughter numbers and a softening in prices,” Mr Gidley-Baird said.

Pauline Hanson is refusing to apologise for targeting a slur at another senator on the same day she faces a censure motion for inflammatory remarks against Muslims.

Hours ahead of the potential censure for recent comments about there being no “good Muslims”, the One Nation leader stormed out of the chamber after calling independent Lidia Thorpe a “bitch” on Monday.

The insult came amid a heated back-and-forth between the two during a debate on US-Israel strikes on Iran, during which Senator Thorpe continuously called Senator Hanson a liar.

She also castigated the One Nation leader for calling the US president “Senator Trump” during her speech.

The two then quietly traded barbs off-mic, with Senator Thorpe heard telling the firebrand, “if you want to talk to me, then make an appointment”, before Senator Hanson used the derogatory term.

She walked out of the chamber as Senator Thorpe went to make a point of order over the comment, adding “I’ll be glad to see the back of you in two years’ time” in reference to the independent senator’s plan not to contest the next election. 

At least one coalition senator was seen trying to contain laughter. 

Senator Hanson subsequently said she apologised “if the public heard me call Senator Thorpe a bitch”, but added she didn’t take back the comment.

“The Senate chamber is meant to be a place for debate, not constant screaming and yelling over the top of senators like we see from Senator Thorpe,” she told AAP following the insult.

“I will not be repeatedly called a liar … I’ve had a gutful of her and so too has the vast majority of Australians.”

Senator Thorpe didn’t wade in on the non-apology, saying Australians did not want more name-calling – they wanted action on rent, wages and the cost of living. 

She accused the One Nation leader of focusing on culture wars to distract from her relationship with billionaires such as Gina Rinehart, including flying on the mining magnate’s private jet.

“She’s not standing up to the elites. She is part of them and then uses division and theatrics to distract from it,” she said.

The heated exchange comes as the coalition faces pressure to reject a preference deal with the resurgent One Nation in an upcoming by-election for the NSW seat of Farrer.

The poll was triggered by the resignation of former Liberal leader Sussan Ley after she was knifed by Angus Taylor for the party’s top job in February.

But Mr Taylor refused to say how the Liberals would direct preferences to One Nation, adding the party wasn’t at that point yet.

“What I will say is we’ll show respect to those who are thinking about voting One Nation,” he told reporters.

The latest Newspoll, published on Monday, showed the coalition’s primary vote rising slightly to 20 per cent, still well behind One Nation’s 27 per cent and Labor’s 32 per cent.

Cash stockpiles have been dwindling at loss-making casino operator Star Entertainment Group, but the firm is making inroads on refinancing its debt in a high-wire battle to survive.

The group had $130 million in available cash as of December 31, down from $234 million six months ago, according to its interim results lodged on Friday night.

Star posted a half-year operating earnings loss of $7.6 million and suffered a statutory loss of $109.7 million, including $34 million of one-off significant items.

It suffered a $53 million net cash outflow from its operations, spent $22 million on capital expenditures and had $49 million in finance costs, among other items.

Group revenue was down 10 per cent to $584.9 million, primarily due to an 18 per cent drop in gaming revenue, which Star said reflected the continued impact of reforms regulators forced it to implement following its 2021 money-laundering scandal.

Domestic gaming revenue was down 10.6 per cent to $257 million at The Star Sydney, where it has implemented mandatory carded play and a daily cash limit of $5,000.

The softer trading conditions at Star Sydney have continued into the second half, with January revenue down six per cent from a year ago.

Group chief executive Bruce Mathieson Jr said Star was streamlining operations to strengthen its financial position, including managing essential support functions at its individual casinos in Sydney, the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

“We continue to pursue appropriate cost-out initiatives and are exploring and implementing initiatives to attract customers to our properties,” Mr Mathieson said.

On Friday, Star’s senior lenders – Washington H Soul Pattinson, Macquarie, Perpetual and Deutsche Bank – agreed once again to waive financial covenants on its debt until March 31, paving the way for a potential refinancing.

Star on Thursday had tentatively agreed terms with WhiteHawk Capital Partners, a Los Angeles-based credit investment manager specialising in asset-based lending to middle-market companies, for a refinancing. 

Star had $341 million in bank loans as of December 31, according to its financial statements lodged with the stock exchange.

Star also warned that there remains material uncertainty about its ability to continue as a going concern, with several near-term matters critical to its liquidity and financial outlook.

The biggest unknown in the short term is a looming Federal Court fine in a money-laundering case brought by Australia’s financial crime watchdog.

AUSTRAC has requested a penalty of $400 million for hosting known criminal syndicates, while Star says it can only pay around $100 million without being pushed into administration.

It’s not known when the Federal Court will rule on that matter.

Shares in Star, which declined an interview request from AAP, were flat at 12.5 cents after midday, after dipping to 12 cents in morning trade.

Oil prices surged on Monday and shares slid as military conflict in the Middle East looked set to last weeks, ‌sending investors flocking to the relative safety of the dollar, gold and bonds.

Brent jumped 7.5 per cent to $US78.34 ($A110.26) a barrel, while US crude climbed 7.3 per cent to $US71.88 ($A101.17) per barrel. Gold rose 1.5 per cent to $US5,358 ($A7,541) an ounce.

Military ‌strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran showed no sign of lessening, while the Arab nation responded with missile barrages across the region, risking dragging its neighbours into the conflict.

President Donald Trump ‌suggested to the Daily Mail the conflict could last for four more weeks, while posting that attacks would continue until US objectives were met.

All eyes were on the Strait of Hormuz where around one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil trade flows and 20 per cent of its liquefied natural gas. While the vital waterway has not yet been blocked, marine tracking sites showed tankers piling up on either side of the strait wary of attack or maybe unable to get insurance for the voyage.

“The most immediate and tangible development affecting oil markets is the effective halt of traffic through ‌the Strait of Hormuz, preventing ‌15 million barrels per ⁠day (bpd) of crude oil from reaching markets,” said Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy.

“Unless de-escalation signals emerge swiftly, ​we expect a significant upward repricing of oil.”

A prolonged spike in oil prices would risk reigniting inflationary pressures globally, while also acting as a tax on business and consumers that could dampen demand.

OPEC+ did agree a modest oil output boost of 206,000 barrels per day for April on Sunday, but a lot of that product still has to get out of the Middle East by tanker.

“The nearest historical analogue in our view is the Middle East oil embargo of the 1970s, which increased oil prices by 300 per cent to around $US12 ($A17)/bbl in 1974,” said Alan Gelder, SVP of refining, chemicals and oil ⁠markets at Wood Mackenzie.

“That is only US$US90 ($A127)/bbl in 2026 terms. Eclipsing this in today’s market concerned about ‌significant losses of ​supply seems very achievable.”

That would be expensive for Japan, which imports all its oil, sending the Nikkei down 2.3 per cent, with airlines among the hardest hit. South Korea lost 1.0 per cent, after a meteoric rise ​so far this ‌year.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6 per cent.

For Europe, EUROSTOXX 50 futures shed 1.9 per cent and DAX futures slid 1.8 per cent. On Wall Street, ​S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures both lost 1.1 per cent.

The oil shock rippled through currency markets with the dollar a main beneficiary. The U.S. is a net energy exporter and Treasuries are still considered a liquid haven in times of stress, shoving the euro down 0.4 per cent to $US1.1768 ($A1.6563).

While the Japanese yen is often a safe harbour, the country imports all ​of ​its oil making the flows more two-way. The dollar added 0.3 per cent to 156.55 ​yen, while gaining sharply on the Australian dollar, which is often sold as a liquid proxy ‌for global risk.

In bond markets, 10-year Treasury yields fell 2 basis points to a three-month low of 3.926 per cent, having dropped under 4.0 per cent last week for the first time since late November.

Bonds had gained a bid on Friday when UK mortgage lender MFS was placed into administration following allegations of financial irregularities. Its collapse stoked wider credit fears, with well-known big banks among its lenders. MFS had borrowed 2 billion pounds ($A3.79 billion).

The news slugged banking stocks and combined with jitters over AI-related stocks to hit Wall Street more broadly.

Investors also have to weather a squall of U.S. economic data ​this week, including the ISM survey of manufacturing, retail sales and the always vital payrolls report.

Any weakness could shake confidence in the economy after a disappointing fourth quarter, but ​would also likely narrow the odds on rate cuts ⁠from the Federal Reserve.

Markets currently imply a 53 per cent chance of an easing in June and about 60 basis points of cuts ​this year. 

From being just a fringe risk, conflict in the Middle East has become a top worry for investors unsettled by the prospect of a power struggle ‌in Iran and a protracted regional war, with ramifications for everything from global trade to inflation.

US-Israel strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday, sowing chaos as Iran struck back at Gulf cities, airlines halted flights ‌and tankers carrying oil and other products suspended transit through the key Strait of Hormuz.

The first risk for financial markets is the uncertainty over what happens next in Iran, given the complexities of the Islamic Republic’s ruling system, the ideological ‌nature of its support base, and the power of its Revolutionary Guards.

That then complicates the outlook for oil prices, which have been rising for weeks but are now hostage to what oil-producing countries do, and how passage of tankers through the Middle East is affected.

There are big implications for inflation worldwide and even the safety of bonds, a traditional investment haven in times of stress.

“Middle East tail risks have increased,” said Rong Ren Goh, a portfolio manager in the fixed income team at Eastspring Investments in Singapore.

“Markets will reprice from geopolitical shock to regime risk shock, prolonged conflict, not just retaliation, unless Iran says it wants to negotiate.”

A bigger risk, analysts say, is complacency in ‌markets that have assumed the ‌fallout will be limited – similar to last June’s “12-Day War” in Iran or during Russia’s numerous attacks on Ukraine – and have been dismissive of any comparisons to Iran’s 1979 regime change.

Brent ​crude jumped around eight per cent on Monday for a gain of nearly 30 per cent so far this year.

Investors are purchasing US Treasuries and gold as hedges for a variety of risks, including Middle East tensions and US President Donald Trump’s erratic policies.

Gold had a record run last year and is up 24 per cent so far in 2026. In comparison, the main US stock index is up just 0.5 per cent.

“History argues strongly in favour of selling geopolitical risk premium when hostilities start,” Barclays analysts said in a client note.

“What worries us is that investors have now learned this pattern and might be underpricing a scenario where containment fails.”

William Jackson, chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, expects a prolonged conflict affecting supply could cause oil prices to jump to around $US100 ($A141), potentially adding 0.6-0.7 percentage points ​to ​global inflation.

Tariq Dennison, a wealth adviser at Zurich-based GFM Asset Management, said the markets had already been underestimating inflation threats.

“There will be more impact on Europe than the US, given the closer proximity ‌of Hormuz oil and gas post-Russia,” he said.

“Maybe a slight short-term uptick on gold, but gold has already priced in maximum geopolitical uncertainty.”

On the other hand, some analysts expect Iran will not be able to disrupt trade in the Gulf region and the impact on oil prices will be contained.

“We wouldn’t be surprised if any selloff in ​the (US) S&P500 on Monday morning (US time) turns into a rally, driven by expectations of lower oil prices once the latest Middle East war ends,” said Ed Yardeni, president of New York-based Yardeni Research.

The European Union’s 27 nations have called for “maximum restraint” and full respect for international law in the ‌Iran conflict.

“We call for maximum restraint, protection of civilians and full respect of international law, including the principles of the United Nations Charter, and international humanitarian law,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement.

The statement came after an ‌emergency video conference ‌of EU foreign ministers ⁠on Sunday, called after the United States and Israel launched military ​strikes on Iran, and Tehran responded with strikes on Israel, US forces and Gulf countries.

“Iran’s attacks and violation of sovereignty of a number of countries in the region are inexcusable. Iran must refrain from indiscriminate military strikes,” the EU statement said.

Reflecting concerns about disruptions to oil ⁠deliveries and supply chains, it said the conflict “must not ‌lead ​to an escalation that could threaten the Middle East, Europe and beyond, with unpredictable consequences, also in ​the economic sphere”.

“The disruption ‌of critical waterways, like the Strait of Hormuz, must be avoided,” the statement added.

The text ​was a compromise that reflected diverse views within the EU – a bloc that represents some 450 million Europeans – on the military action launched by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime ​Minister ​Benjamin Netanyahu.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said ​now was not the time to ‌lecture partners and allies.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, by contrast, “rejected” the US and Israeli action on Saturday, saying it “contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order”.

Behind the scenes, diplomats said Europe has little influence over the unfolding conflict, even though it may have a major impact on the continent.

“Not ​too many options, I am afraid. Certainly not short-term,” a Western European official said.

Europeans are “just ​bystanders, nobody has leverage ⁠with Trump”, an EU diplomat said.