US-Iran war live updates: Flight out of Dubai lands in Sydney, Hegseth confirms US sunk warship with torpedo

We are wrapping up another day of our live coverage of the war in the Middle East.

Thank you for following our blog updates. Join us again tomorrow as we bring you the latest events as they happen.

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has confirmed the Iranian vessel that sunk in the Indian Ocean was taken down by a US torpedo.

“An Iranian warship thought it was safe in international waters,” he said during a media conference.

“Instead it was sunk by a torpedo.”

Around 140 people on board are missing and Sri Lanka’s navy earlier said “several bodies” had been recovered by rescue crews.

Former Sunrise host David ‘Kochie’ Koch was among the crowd gathered at Sydney airport to welcome home passengers onboard the first flight back from Dubai.

Koch said he was “very relieved” to meet his daughter and granddaughter at the arrivals gate.

The pair were travelling with Barker College’s robotics team, which was scheduled to compete in Turkey before becoming stranded in Dubai.

Sri Lanka’s navy has confirmed “several bodies” have been recovered after an Iranian vessel sunk off the coast.

“During our search operation we came across several bodies,” navy spokesperson Buddhika told reporters.

Sampath said the navy, coastguard, and airforce were carrying out ongoing rescue operations.

“Further investigations will reveal when and why this vessel was here,” he said.

At the time of writing, 32 people have been rescued.

The BBC has reported that the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has received a report of a container ship being hit by an “unknown projectile” off Oman’s north cost today in the Straits of Hormuz.

The ship reported that the the strike had caused a fire in its engine room, but no environmental impact had been reported. Authorities are continuing to investigate.

Turkey claimed that NATO defences have interecepted a ballisitic missile launch from Iran before it entered Turkish airspace.

Sri Lanka’s navy says that an Iranian warship has sunk off its coast.

The navy confirmed that it rescued 32 people after receiving a distress call from the ‘IRIS DENA’ warship.

“Though it was beyond our waters, it was within our search and rescue region. So we were obliged to respond as per international obligations,” navy spokesman Budhika Sampath said.

There are roughly 140 people from the ship believed to still be missing.

A planeload of Australians, who had been stranded in Dubai since the start of the most recent conflict in the Middle East on Saturday, have landed safely on Australian soil.

Emirates flight EK414 safely made it out of the warzone about 9.30am today (AEDT) and landed in Sydney just before 10.30pm.

Iran has been forced to postpone the state funeral for deceased supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, state media announced.

Set to be a three-day funeral that was set to kick off today, reports now suggest that it will be postponed without a future date locked-in yet.

It comes followng issues with infrastructure in place to hold the funeral that had received “overwhelming demand”.

Meanwhile, the Perth Iranian community celebrated the death of the former leader on Sunday.

Gathering at South Perth foreshore to rejoice in the US and Israeli intervention in Iran.

The IDF has shared footage to its social media of an attack against Hezbollah’s headquarters and underground ammunition depots.

Their forces claim to have struck in Beirut over the past few days, with waves of strikes zoning in on the terror oraganisation’s infrastructure.

“The targeted infrastructure was intended to serve the Hezbollah terror organization to advance and execute various terror plots against IDF forces and civilians of the State of Israel,” the caption read.

“Prior to the strike, steps were taken to reduce the chance of harm to civilians, including advance warnings, use of precision munitions, and aerial observations.”