Australian Couple Released in Iran after 3-month Detention

A video grab of the couple after arriving in Tehran. Picture: YouTube
A video grab of the couple after arriving in Tehran. Picture: YouTube
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Australian Couple Released in Iran after 3-month Detention

A video grab of the couple after arriving in Tehran. Picture: YouTube
A video grab of the couple after arriving in Tehran. Picture: YouTube

The Australian foreign minister announced on Saturday that an Australian-British blogger and her fiancé were released in Iran and were on their way home after three months of detention.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said that the couple, Jolie King and Mark Firkin, are in "good health and in good spirits."

She said all charges against them had been dropped.

"For Jolie and for Mark, the ordeal they have been through is now over, they are being reunited with their loved ones, which is a source of great relief and joy to everyone," Payne said.

Perth-based King and Firkin had been documenting their journey from Australia to Britain on social media for the past two years but went silent after posting updates from Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan about three months ago.

They were held in detention in Tehran for almost three months after being arrested for reportedly flying a drone without a permit.

On Saturday, Iran's official IRIB news agency reported that an Iranian university student who had been arrested in Australia on charges of exporting American military radar equipment to Iran to help the country's defense program has returned to Iran after 13 months in detention.

Reza Dehbashi, a student at the University of Queensland, was facing extradition to the United States and was freed because of Iran's diplomatic efforts, according to IRIB.

Dehbashi was doing research on a machine used for detecting skin cancer and has denied all charges about the export of military equipment to Iran, IRIB reported.

Another British-Australian, University of Melbourne academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert is still imprisoned in Iran after being charged with spying last year.

Payne said her case was "very complex" as she had been sentenced to 10 years in jail.

"We are continuing our discussions with the Iranian government, we don't accept the charges upon which she was convicted and we will seek to have her returned to Australia," she said, declining to comment further.

News of the arrests last month came after Canberra announced it would contribute a frigate and surveillance aircraft to a US-led mission to protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, with tensions high in the Gulf region.

Payne has maintained the cases of those detained were not related to diplomatic tensions.



Iran, US Race to Find Crew Member of Crashed American Fighter Jet

A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft refuels from a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft during a mission supporting Operation Epic Fury during the Iran war at an undisclosed location, April 2, 2026.  US Air Force/Handout via REUTERS
A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft refuels from a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft during a mission supporting Operation Epic Fury during the Iran war at an undisclosed location, April 2, 2026. US Air Force/Handout via REUTERS
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Iran, US Race to Find Crew Member of Crashed American Fighter Jet

A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft refuels from a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft during a mission supporting Operation Epic Fury during the Iran war at an undisclosed location, April 2, 2026.  US Air Force/Handout via REUTERS
A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft refuels from a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft during a mission supporting Operation Epic Fury during the Iran war at an undisclosed location, April 2, 2026. US Air Force/Handout via REUTERS

Iranian and American forces raced each other Saturday to recover a crew member from the first US fighter jet to go down inside Iran since the start of the war.

Tehran said it had shot down the F-15 warplane and US media reported United States special forces had rescued one of its two crew members, with the other was still missing.

Iran's military also said it downed a US A-10 ground attack aircraft in the Gulf, with US media saying the pilot of that plane was rescued, reported AFP.

The war erupted more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei, triggering retaliation that spread the conflict throughout the Middle East, convulsing the global economy and impacting millions of people worldwide.

US Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the loss of the F-15, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: "The president has been briefed."

President Donald Trump told NBC the F-15 loss would not affect negotiations with Iran, saying: "No, not at all. No, it's war."

On Saturday, there were fresh strikes on Israel, Lebanon and Iran, as well as on Gulf states.

An AFP journalist saw a thick haze of grey smoke covering Tehran's skyline after hearing several blasts over the capital. It was not immediately clear what had been targeted.

- 'Valuable reward' -

A spokesperson for the Iranian military's central operational command earlier said "an American hostile fighter jet in central Iranian airspace was struck and destroyed by the IRGC Aerospace Force's advanced air defense system".

"The jet was completely obliterated, and further searches are ongoing."

An Iranian television reporter on a local official channel said anyone who captured a crew member alive would "receive a valuable reward".

Retired US brigadier general Houston Cantwell, who has 400 hours of combat flight experience, said a pilot's training would likely kick in before he or she parachutes to the ground.

"My priority would be, first of all, concealment, because I don't want to be captured," he told AFP.

Mohammad Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament, mocked the Trump administration.

He wrote on X: "After defeating Iran 37 times in a row, this brilliant no-strategy war they started has now been downgraded from 'regime change' to 'Hey! Can anyone find our pilots? Please?'

"Wow. What incredible progress. Absolute geniuses."


Explosion Hits Pro-Israel Center in the Netherlands

Rotterdam Police officers. (Getty Images/AFP)
Rotterdam Police officers. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Explosion Hits Pro-Israel Center in the Netherlands

Rotterdam Police officers. (Getty Images/AFP)
Rotterdam Police officers. (Getty Images/AFP)

A blast hit a pro-Israeli center in the Netherlands, police said Saturday, adding it caused minimal damage and no injuries.

A police spokeswoman told AFP no one was inside the site run by Christians for Israel, a non-profit, in the central city of Nijkerk when the explosion went off outside its gate late on Friday.

An investigation was ongoing.

The incident comes after a string of similar night-time attacks on Jewish sites in the Netherlands and neighboring Belgium in recent weeks that has heightened concerns in the wake of the war in the Middle East.


Iran Says Strike Hit Close to Its Bushehr Nuclear Facility, Killing a Guard and Damaging a Building

Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor (Reuters)
Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor (Reuters)
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Iran Says Strike Hit Close to Its Bushehr Nuclear Facility, Killing a Guard and Damaging a Building

Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor (Reuters)
Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor (Reuters)

Iran’s atomic agency says an airstrike has hit near its Bushehr nuclear facility, killing a security guard and damaging a support building. It is the fourth time the facility has been targeted during the war.

The agency announced Saturday’s attack on social media.

The US AP’s military pressed ahead Saturday in a frantic search for a missing pilot after Iran shot down an American warplane, as Iran called on people to turn the pilot in, promising a reward.

The plane, identified by Iran as a US F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two attacked on Friday, with one service member rescued and at least one missing. It was the first time the United States lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the war, now in its sixth week, and could mark a new turning point in the campaign.

The conflict, launched by the US and Israel on Feb. 28, has rippled across the region. It has so far killed thousands, upended global markets, cut off key shipping routes, spiked fuel prices and shows no signs of slowing as Iran responds to US and Israeli airstrikes with attacks across the region.