As it happened: Australia deploys 'military assets' to Middle East; US sub sinks Iranian warship; Would-be Trump assassin killed

This is where we will end our live blogging for today, but we will keep you up to date with major developments in the Middle East.

You can read the latest here, including Iran warning the US it will "bitterly regret" the sinking of a warship off the coast of Sri Lanka.

And keep up to date on everything at 9news.com.au.

EXCLUSIVE: Two Australian sailors were aboard the nuclear-powered US submarine when it torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka yesterday.

9News understands the Australians are on board the American submarine as part of the AUKUS training rotation.

The submarine hit the frigate IRIS Dena with a Mark-48 torpedo, killing more than 80 Iranian sailors in a strike described as "quiet death" by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

The Defence Department refused to identify the rank or role of the Australians on the US submarine.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

The Pentagon has identified the final two US soldiers killed by an Iranian drone attack in Kuwait on Monday.

Chief Warrant Officer Three Robert Marzan, 54, from Sacramento, California and Major Jeffrey O'Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa were two of six US soldiers killed at a command centre in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.

Marzan is "believed to be the individual who perished at the scene", the Pentagon said in a statement. Positive identification will be completed by the medical examiner.

Sergeant Declan Coady, 20, Sergeant First Class Nicole Amor, 39, Captain Cody Khork, 35 and Sergeant First Class Noah Tietjens, 42, were yesterday identified as the other four US service members killed in the strike.

America "will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set" after a US submarine sank an Iranian frigate off the coast of Sri Lanka, Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said.

The comment by Araghchi represents the first time the Iranian government acknowledged the sinking of the IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean.

Araghchi made the comment on X, saying "the U.S. has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2000 miles away from Iran's shores".

"Frigate Dena, a guest of India's Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning," he wrote.

"Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that Australia is sending "military assets" to the Middle East as part of the government's contingency response to stranded citizens.

Albanese made the comment during Question Time, adding that the government had already sent six crisis teams to offer consular assistance as the conflict escalates.

"The government is deploying six crisis response teams to the region and we've already deployed military assets as part of contingency planning earlier this week," the PM said.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong is yet to confirm the scale of military assets sent to the region.

Around 115,000 Australians were in the Middle East when fighting began.

Among the passengers repatriated to Sydney was a family from Texas.

They were forced to fly the long way home from the Middle East as US flights out the region are still not operating.

It has set them back around $100,000.

"What I had to do was book 15 different flights, 14 of them got cancelled," the man, who was not identified, told 9News.

"It was quite a penny."

Sydney Airport was the scene of emotional reunions as Australians stranded in the Middle East finally touched down on a repatriation flight today.

Relieved passengers included children on school excursions and a woman who is due to be married this weekend.

Emirates flight attendants also received a round of applause as they arrived through the gateway.

More flights are expected to land in Sydney and Melbourne later today.

Qatar Airways has announced it will begin operating relief flights out of Oman and Saudi Arabia starting today.

Limited flights will fly stranded passengers from Muscat, Oman's port capital, which is hundreds of kilometres from Qatar, to London Heathrow, Berlin, Copenhagen, Madrid, Rome, and Amsterdam.

It will also fly passengers from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capital – which is also hundreds of kilometres from Doha – to Frankfurt.

Qatari airspace remains closed, affecting all flights departing from Hamad International Airport in Doha.

The airline said it will share another operational update 9am local tomorrow (5pm AEDT).

An Israeli drone strike on a coastal highway in southern Lebanon killed three people, the country's state-run media said.

The drone reportedly targeted a car travelling along the highway toward Naqoura, a border town near Israel.

Another Israeli strike killed two people at a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli, Lebanon's Health Ministry said.

This marks the northernmost strike in Lebanon so far.

Independent MP Allegra Spender has called on the federal government to impose a 50 per cent tax on oil and gas companies profiteering from the conflict in the Middle East.

Spender said the multinational conglomerates are "generating extraordinary profits" due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

"The supernormal profits made by a few companies during this time are not a reward for effort or ingenuity, or a driver of investment; it is the windfall from war," she told the ABC.

Earlier this week, the NRMA warned oil companies not to "jack up" prices, however some unleaded petrol prices rose to over $2 per litre on the east coast this week.

Spender suggested using the tax revenue to pay down government debt.