Radio National Breakfast

In the aftermath of the Black Summer bush fires six years ago, something dawned on a group of specialist researchers.

The fires had destroyed not only homes and livelihoods - but large swathes of critically important habitat for Australia's invertebrate population.

Around Australia, nearly a thousand invertebrates - that is, animals without a backbone - are threatened with extinction, with a dedicated crew now working to save species and build public knowledge.

• Guest: Associate Professor Tanya Latty is an entomologist and co-founder of Invertebrates Australia 

Israel closed all crossings into Gaza when it launched its joint attack on Iran, raising fears of a new hunger crisis for 2 million residents.

One key crossing Kerem Shalom has since re-opened, but aid groups worry it's not nearly enough.

• Guest: Dr Thienminh Dinh, Australian emergency doctor who's completed two Gaza assignments with Médecins Sans Frontières
• Producer: Pip Cook

Allegations of Israel committing genocide are currently before the International Court of Justice. The International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes remains in place. Israel denies all allegations.

Six crisis consular teams have been deployed to the Middle East to help Australians trying to return home amid the widening regional conflict.

The Treasurer has warned the economic consequences of the war are "uncertain" but they are "likely to be very substantial".

• GUEST: Jim Chalmers, Treasurer
• PRODUCER: Isadora Bogle

The US-Iran war has reached a new front, after a U.S. strike hit an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean off ​Sri Lanka, deepening a crisis that has paralysed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz for a fifth day and choking off vital Middle East oil and gas flows.

Iran has warned vessels not to pass through the crucial waterway in the south of the country effectively halting a fifth of the world's energy supply transit.

US President Donald Trump is now offering insurance guarantees and naval escorts to protect, as he says, the "free flow of energy to the world".

• GUEST: Dr Neil Quilliam, energy policy, geopolitics and foreign affairs specialist at Chatham House and the Energy Research Director at SRMG Think
• PRODUCER: Brooke Young, Eddy Diamond

The US and Israel have launched new strikes on Iran, as Tehran also continues to fire missiles and drones at an array of targets. The war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran, more than 50 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries.US President Donald Trump claims the joint mission has hit more than 2,000 targets, with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth saying a torpedo from an American submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters.  

• GUEST: John Bolton, former national security advisor to US President Donald Trump and former US ambassador to the United Nations under George W Bush 

Broadcaster Dennis Cometti has died at the age of 76, after a legendary career calling Australian sport for five decades. 

The Western Australian native has been hailed as "the best of his kind at calling the football" .

We go through some of his famous calls and the tributes remembering his legacy.

U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says much of Iran's aerial defences have been destroyed, enabling an expansion of U.S. bombing in the coming days.

But in modern history, a military operation has never managed to change a regime from aerial bombing alone.

That's according to Robert Pape - who has studied every air campaign since World War I and warns the U.S. strategy of "strategic bombing" against Iran could backfire - escalating the conflict without delivering regime change.

• GUEST: Robert Pape, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago 
• PRODUCER: Pip Cook & Eddy Diamond

Iranians in Australia celebrated the death of former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the end of his reign of theocratic terror.

But the jubilant mood soon turned to grave concern over the ongoing bombardment by the U.S. and Israel and the ongoing communications blackouts making it difficult to check on loved ones back home.

• GUEST: Nos Hosseini, spokesperson for the Iranian Women's Association in Australia 
• PRODUCER: Brooke Young and Jason Whittaker 

The conflict to the middle east has reached a new front: The Indian Ocean.

An American submarine sank an Iranian warship outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters and Sri Lankan authorities say 32 of the 180 people on board were rescued.

The US and Israel have continued their bombardment of Iran's security forces, while Iran launched more missiles and drones, warning of the destruction of military and economic infrastructure across the Middle East.

Gulf states have also found themselves in the firing line. Military facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have all been hit by Iranian missiles and drones, as have airports, ports and hotels.

So far, Gulf countries have refused to let the U.S. use their territories to launch retaliatory strikes on Iran.

• Guest: Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar
• Producer: Pip Cook

We hear from a senior Canadian Minister about the role of middle powers like Canada and Australia, as the Canadian PM lands in the country for an official visit. 

PM Mark Carney is riding high following his Davos speech where he pushed for middle powers to stand together. 

It comes as some question the viability of the global rules based order. We hear from senior Liberal Andrew Hastie who thinks it is no more. 

Then, developments in Iran: Evan Lucas shares analysis about the oil price and the Strait of Hormuz. 

And the former head of nuclear verification at the international nuclear watchdog counters claims from Donald Trump about Iran's nuclear program. 

Recap the morning's news, politics and global affairs with the Breakfast Wrap.