Good morning. Thomas Morgan and Nelli Saarinen here with Monday's AM NewsMail.

Kicking off our continuing coverage of the war between the US, Israel and Iran, our Middle East correspondent, Matthew Doran, breaks down the latest developments from Jordan. And in breaking news, a fifth Iranian women's football player has decided to leave Australia after earlier being granted asylum.

Plus, we plot out the White House's changing narrative about why it has taken America to war. And also in the headlines, Four Corners on South Australia's algal bloom.

AND REMEMBER: You can now see more ABC News stories in your Google search results.

Good morning, Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran here, reporting from Amman. Here's today's daily update, to get you up to speed with the latest happenings in the region — as the war rolls into its third week.

There have been mixed messages on just how long this war would rage on — and not just because of how it has crippled much of the Middle East. One of the key concerns is how long countries can defend themselves.

That's an issue that reared its head over the weekend, as reporting emerged from the United States suggesting Israel had warned its partner in this conflict it was running low on interceptor missiles.

Israel's sophisticated air defence systems, one part of which is known as the "Iron Dome", is one of the most lauded anywhere in the world — it's even prompted Donald Trump to want to build his own, albeit over a much, much larger stretch of land.

But we know after last year's 12-Day War between Israel and Iran, there were reports the intense barrage of Iranian retaliatory strikes had left little in the stockpiles.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar was touring the site of an Iranian missile impact in northern Israel when he was asked if that report was accurate. He said no.

That's not necessarily surprising — Israel isn't likely to telegraph any vulnerabilities in its defences, even if the report was accurate. But given warning sirens are going off multiple times a day and night across Israel, it could fuel fear in the community.

Sa'ar has also denied the prospects of talks between Israel and Lebanon, as the conflict there deepens. The French looked like they might broker those talks, but he said it wasn't going to happen.

Lebanon has been dragged into this regional conflict, after the Iranian-backed Hezbollah opened fire on Israel in solidarity with the regime in Tehran. And it's fuelled a humanitarian crisis the government cannot endure.

Ironically, winter weather hitting the country added insult to injury to many sleeping rough as a result of forced displacement. But it also meant Israeli air strikes had to be wound back.

The shock waves of this conflict are being felt most keenly on energy markets, and Donald Trump reiterated his demand for countries to step in and try to secure shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron has flagged trying to launch a mission along those lines — but Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has today warned against that — suggesting it could escalate the conflict even further.

It followed comments from the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying people didn't "need to worry about it."

Thanks for joining me. You can keep track of the latest updates from Iran and around the world throughout the day via our live blog.

• Mixed messages: The US president's explanations for why he ordered military strikes on Iran have been shifting. We've traced those changing justifications to provide a glimpse into the inner machinations of the US war machine and its commander-in-chief.
• Fuel fears: Australian motorists face the prospect of rationing as the global economy navigates through a petrol supply shock. But the big driver of higher prices could be panic, as our business correspondents Daniel Ziffer and Gareth Hutchens explain. Plus, Alan Kohler on why the Iran war makes an RBA interest rate rise likely.
• News analysis: Australia's refugee policy is set to be challenged by the looming humanitarian crisis emerging in Iran. As Patricia Karvelas writes, politics has changed a lot in the decade since Tony Abbott permanently resettled 12,000 Syrians. 

• "Untenable": Australia is sneglecting to provide any estimate of its financial support to the fossil fuels industry, a global agency says in its first report on the subject. Government financial support is a major brake on efforts to prevent habitat loss around the world.
• "It started inside Roblox": Concerned parents have spoken to the ABC about their children's experiences of grooming and exposure to explicit content on gaming platform Roblox, following the Commonwealth's calls for a meeting with the platform.
• SA Votes: Barnaby Joyce says One Nation will "poll number one" in many seats at the state's looming election, just under a week away. Once considered a fringe party, One Nation is now overtaking the Coalition in a number of federal polls.

— Dale Madden was hospitalised with severe gastro and a bacterial infection after swimming on a beach in a South Australian holiday town in March last year.

While his illness can't be definitively linked to the state's disastrous algal bloom, he is just one of many swimmers and surfers who say they became ill after being in the water. Meanwhile, hundreds of dead fish, birds, a seal, a baby dolphin and other marine life were washing up on the coast nearby.

An investigation by Four Corners reveals what the South Australian government knew about the toxic algal bloom — and what it told the public — as it failed to act on public health concerns for months.

Finally this morning, our reporter and newsletter writer Nelli Saarinen dives into the phenomenon of lifestyle creep.

It can help explain why getting that big raise at work doesn't always lead to higher savings, but fortunately there are ways to avoid falling into that trap.

And that's it for today. Thanks for reading! We'll be back tomorrow with more. 

Thomas, Nelli and the ABC News Digital team.

The government knew a harmful toxin had been found in its algal bloom, but took months to update its health advice.