Trump to ‘beat the f****** shit’ out of Iran + Hannah Ferguson vs Albo

**Chris Spyrou** (0:08)
Hey, it's Chris Spyrou with you. Welcome to The Briefing. Just twice in Australian history has a prime minister been unseated at an election, and now progressive media commentator Hannah Ferguson is looking to make that three.

**Hannah Ferguson** (0:20)
This kind of discussion around, is it labour or one nation? To me, that is no contest that is appropriate for this country. That is a race to the bottom.

**Chris Spyrou** (0:27)
My chat with Hannah and why she's running against Anthony Albanese in his seat at the next election is coming up in the second half of this episode. First up, let's get into the headlines with Alex Tai on Thursday the 30th of July.

**Alex Tai** (0:42)
Good morning Chris. The pause in fighting between the US and Iran is over, with Donald Trump this morning promising to... Can I swear on the podcast Chris?

**Chris Spyrou** (0:52)
Well a version of.

**Alex Tai** (0:54)
Okay, beat the effing shit out of Iran.

**Chris Spyrou** (0:57)
Yep, that's safe.

**Alex Tai** (0:58)
Speaking to Fox News, the president said the US would hit Iran hard today, after a missile barrage on American forces in Jordan reignited hostilities yesterday.
That is after Trump paused attacks over the weekend after 13 straight days of strikes. A pause some US outlets attributed to munitions running low. That's something that US officials have since denied.

**Chris Spyrou** (1:21)
Yeah, Iran since the weekend has also gone quiet until that surprise attack yesterday when it fired missiles at a US airbase and command center in Jordan and also at ships in the Strait of Hormuz that it says did not have their permission to be passing through. US Central Command says the Jordan strikes failed, then hours later joined Saudi Arabia to hit Iran-backed militia in Iraq. And that Iran-backed militia is a group that the US have accused of being behind a bunch of strikes on US and Saudi forces.

**Alex Tai** (1:50)
Chris, all of this comes as Trump has this week hosted Benjamin Netanyahu and Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. Both are in town for the funeral of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who right up until his death was one of the loudest voices urging the US to arm Ukraine and hit Iran harder.
Netanyahu is pushing Trump to go even harder on Iran, but the president has so far waved him off. If Trump does deliver on today's threat, though, the region could tip back into all-out war.

**Chris Spyrou** (2:21)
Back home into South Australia where the search for a missing baby boy on the state's southeast coast has been called off. A massive land and air search was sparked after the bodies of the boy's mother and 23-month-old sister were pulled from the water near Port Macdonald on Monday. The mother's car found abandoned nearby with the engine still running.

**Trent Fox** (2:41)
The chances of finding the baby alive are zero, sadly. It's a retrieval effort but we don't know where he is.

**Chris Spyrou** (2:49)
Superintendent Trent Fox speaking there.

**Alex Tai** (2:51)
Police are treating these deaths as a murder-suicide, revealing yesterday that the Compton mother had visited Mount Gambier Police Station on Sunday and that officers ran a welfare check on Monday morning after a call from one of her friends. However, during that welfare check, no one was at home and less than two hours later, police were then called to the scene of the tragedy.

**Chris Spyrou** (3:14)
Crews have searched by land and air for three days with the team of psychologists arriving in Mount Gambier today to support those who have helped in the search. Superintendent Cox had this message for the community.

**Trent Fox** (3:25)
Give your kids an extra tight hug. It'll affect the community whether they have children or not because the deaths of such young children and a mother in these circumstances is tragic on so many levels.

**Chris Spyrou** (3:39)
Police say they have no information to suggest anyone else was involved and if you or someone you know is experiencing distress from this story, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14

**Alex Tai** (3:52)
Staying in South Australia where authorities have for the first time confirmed the deadly H5 strain of bird flu is spreading among local populations. Up until now, Chris, the cases had all been from birds flying in from the Antarctic. Now, though, the virus has spread between greater crested turns. And we're learning a lot of different bird names because of this flu.
Greater crested turns are from the same family as seagulls.

**Chris Spyrou** (4:19)
Yeah, 11 of these turns have tested positive for the virus. And that brings the official total count of bird cases to 27 Australia's Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Beth Cookson says now that local transmission has occurred, they expect the spread to continue.