The Australian Defence Force has cancelled a launch event for the joint US-Australia military exercise, Talisman Sabre.

The preview event for the biennial exercise was to be held in Darwin today, with US and Australian military personnel scheduled to speak.

Talisman Sabre is the largest military exercise conducted in Australia, with tens of thousands of military personnel participating across air, land, sea, space and cyber domains.

The multi-national exercise is set to begin on July 13 this year, with Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga and the UK also partaking.

The ABC has put question to the ADF about why the event was cancelled and whether it will be postponed.

What will it mean for petrol prices if Iran follows through on its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz?

Nearly a quarter of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas must pass through the strait — which Iran shares with Oman and the United Arab Emirates —to reach markets around the world.

Energy market analyst Saul Kavonic says if Iran closes the strait, the impact could dwarf that of previous oil price shocks, such as those that followed the Iranian Revolution in the 1970s and the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022.

"If Iran actually carry out what they have threatened to do … it could drive the petrol at the pump to 50 per cent or even double current prices for a period of time," Kavonic says.

"That's got everyone in oil markets on edge here."

He says oil supply hasn't been disrupted yet, but prices have already risen as the conflict between Iran and Israel has escalated, in anticipation of what might happen next.

The ABC has verified a video that shows a massive explosion in the city of Yazd in central Iran.

The footage was uploaded to X on June 22 which shows a large plume of smoke rising underneath a mountain range. 

Explosions and car sirens were also heard in the video.

The Iran International news outlet wrote on X that the video showed an explosion "at the Sadoughi training garrison of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and an adjacent missile site in the city of Yazd".

The IDF said earlier that it had struck Yazd for the first time and hit the "Imam Hussein" Strategic Missile Command Center in the area on Sunday.

This is the argument Iran consistently puts forward — that it has a right to defend itself.

Under international law (in the UN Charter) every state has an inherent right to self defence.

But there are factors at play, issues like whether it was an unprovoked attack and is the response proportional.

China is publicly "deeply concerned" about events in the Middle East but privately is probably celebrating.

America is off to war again, and China will be the winner as it has been for two decades.

Throughout China's rise as an industrial power since it joined the World Trade Organization on December 11, 2001 — exactly three months after 9/11 — America has been constantly sidetracked and weakened by wars and unrest.

You can read more here ⬇️

As the war continues, questions remain as to whether Iran will be able to rely on long-term allies for support. 

Thus far, Iran has only enjoyed rhetorical support from Russia, despite the two nations sharing a military partnership.  

So what might come of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travelling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin?

Mona Yacoubin, the director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says she expects Araghchi will be seeking more tangible support. 

"Would Russia, for example, provide advanced weaponry to Iran? I don't think that is likely, I think that would be considered a highly provocative move," she told ABC News Channel. 

"Vladimir Putin has his own … issues that he would like to address with President Trump, largely with respect to Ukraine.

"I think at this point, we won't see much more other than pictures on the television screen, handshakes and words of support from Russia. I don't think much more than that."

A 13 tonne bomb — yes, you read that right — being dropped on a nuclear site so sensitive it was embedded almost 100 metres inside a mountain.

When you put it like that, it's no surprise Sunday's US attacks on Iran put much of the world on edge.

US President Donald Trump hailed the mission, which involved stealth bombers launching strikes on three uranium enrichment facilities, as a huge success.

The targets at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan had been "totally obliterated" he said.

While devastating consequences are associated with any act of war, words like "nuclear" and "radioactive" can trigger extra concerns.

You can unpack them with me here ⬇️

Hi Patricia, 

Thanks for your question. 

The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), would be the our most reliable source on the extent of damage on Iranian nuclear facilities. 

It has inspectors stationed in Iran, but as we heard earlier today, they're not currently able to assess the impacted sites as  missile strikes continue. 

The IAEA has also said it's difficult to assess the damage on the Fordow site in particular, given its's built deep inside a mountain. 

"It is clear that Fordow was also directly impacted, but the degree of damage inside the uranium enrichment halls can’t be determined with certainty," Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.

"At this time, no-one, including the IAEA, is in a position to assess the underground damage at Fordow."

He's called for an immediate ceasefire to allow IAEA teams to inspect the destruction. 

Grossi said the Iranian regulatory authorities have told the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels after the US strikes.

US President Donald Trump has repeated claims "monumental damage" was done to all nuclear sites in Iran on his Truth social media account. 

But the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said no-one had been able to assess the damage caused by US strikes. 

Officials, including Australia's ambassador to Iran, Ian McConville, have been stationed on the Azerbaijan border since they were rushed out of Tehran in the days after the conflict erupted.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade provided these images of the officials providing support at the border crossing over the weekend.