MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia has agreed to underwrite two companies buying fuel at inflated prices, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warning Thursday that supply disruptions would “have a long tail” even if the Iran ceasefire holds.
The government had agreed to terms with Australia’s largest suppliers Ampol and Viva Energy to underwrite contracts for gasoline and diesel bought on the spot market for prices above normal commercial rates, Albanese said.
The government would also have the power to direct how that fuel was distributed, with a focus on regional and farming areas where gas stations have run dry in recent weeks, Albanese said.
“This will have a long tail, which is why after this we will travel to Singapore,” Albanese told reporters at an Ampol refinery in Australian city of Brisbane.
“I’m looking forward to a constructive meeting with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong tomorrow,” Albanese said.
“We don’t preempt one-on-one meetings at leaders’ levels, but the fact that we’re being welcomed at relatively short notice to Singapore speaks about the strength of the relationship,” he added.
Albanese’s visit would continue Singapore’s regional engagements to keep fuel supply flowing by strengthening fuel access for Australia, a Singaporean government statement said.
Australia was Singapore’s second-largest supplier of liquefied natural gas and Singapore was Australia’s largest supplier of refined petroleum products.
“This visit follows Australia and Singapore’s joint commitment to keep fuel flowing between both countries and to work together to strengthen energy supply chain resilience,” Singapore said.
Albanese said his government was moving quickly to increase Australia’s fuel supply.
He described the announcement this week of a two-week ceasefire in the Middle East war as an important step forward.
“If the ceasefire holds, that doesn’t mean that the world global capacity comes online in a week or a month. It will take as considerable period of time. This will have a long tail. That is very, very clear,” Albanese said.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a press conference at the Ampol Lytton Refinery, in Brisbane, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (Russell Freeman/AAP Image via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Semiofficial news agencies in Iran published a chart Thursday suggesting the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war, in a message that may be intended to pressure the U.S. as uncertainty hangs over a days-old two-week ceasefire and further negotiations are set to begin in Pakistan.
The charts were released by the ISNA news agency, as well as Tasnim, which is believed to be close to the Guard, and showed a large circle marked “danger zone” in Farsi over the Traffic Separation Scheme, which was the route ships used to take through the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil and natural gas traded once passed.
The chart suggested ships travel further north through waters closer to Iran’s mainland near Larak Island, a route that some ships were observed taking during the war.
The charts were dated from Feb. 28 until Thursday, April 9, and it was unclear if the Guard had cleared any mining on the route since then.
U.S. President Donald Trump posted a statement insisting that his surge of warships and troops will remain around Iran “until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with.”
Trump’s comments on his Truth Social platform appeared to be a way to pressure Iran.
“If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the ‘Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before,” Trump wrote.
He also insisted Iran would not be able to build nuclear weapons and “the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE.”
The U.S. and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the ceasefire agreement, and world leaders expressed relief. But more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries after the deal was announced.
At the same time, Israel intensified its attacks on the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, hitting commercial and residential areas in Beirut. At least 182 people were killed Wednesday in the deadliest day of fighting there.
The violence threatened to scuttle what U.S. Vice President JD Vance called a “fragile” deal.
Iran's parliament speaker said Wednesday that planned talks were “unreasonable” because Washington had broken three of Tehran’s 10 conditions for an end to the fighting. In a social media post, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf objected to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, an alleged drone incursion into Iranian airspace after the ceasefire took effect and U.S. refusal to accept any Iranian enrichment capabilities in a final agreement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that an end to the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire deal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump said the truce did not cover Lebanon. When the deal was announced, the prime minister of Pakistan, which served as a mediator, said in a social media post that it applied to “everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere.”
A New York-based think tank warned the ceasefire “hovers on the verge of collapse.”
The Soufan Center said Israel's strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday added to the risk the deal would fall apart.
“Even if Lebanon was formally outside the deal, the scale of Israel’s strikes was likely to be viewed as escalatory, nonetheless,” it wrote in an analysis published Thursday. “Israel’s strikes can be understood both as an effort to drive a wedge between Iran and its proxies and as a response to being allegedly sidelined in the original ceasefire discussions.”
Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece.
A rescue worker extinguishes burning cars at the site of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rises following several Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Ali, 4, holds a toy horse next to the tent his family uses as a shelter after fleeing Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Government supporters gather ahead of the funeral procession for Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, head of intelligence for Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
FILE - Two police officers walk in front of an anti-U.S. billboard depicting American aircraft being caught by Iranian armed forces in a fishing net beneath the words in Farsi, "The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed, The entire Persian Gulf is our hunting ground," in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
