Australia supports US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has voiced support for the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, stating they were necessarily to prevent Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, “The world has long agreed that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon, and we support action to prevent that,” he said.

“The US action was directed at specific sites central to Iran’s nuclear program. We don’t want escalation and a full-scale war, we continue to call for dialogue and for diplomacy.”

“We have been upfront about the challenge facing the international community – that is, dealing with the threat posed by any Iranian nuclear weapons program and dealing with the risk of regional escalation.

“And that’s why Australia called upon Iran to come to the table and abandon any nuclear weapons program. Iran didn’t come to the table just as it has repeatedly failed to comply with its international obligations. We urge Iran not to take any further action that could destabilise the region.”

When asked whether the PM supported the premise of the strikes – that Iran had nuclear weapons – Albanese remarked, “The information has been clear, that Iran has sought to increase the grade… there’s no other explanation for it to reach 60 [per cent], other than engaging in a program that wasn’t about civilian nuclear power… It was also very clear over a period of time and as early as a week ago, of course, at the G7 when President Trump left the G7, made it clear that Iran had an opportunity to comply. They chose not to and there have been consequences of that.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong also endorsed the US strikes, telling Channel 9, “We support action to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, and that is what this is.”  Speaking on ABC TV, Wong noted that Iran had enough enriched uranium to construct “several nuclear weapons”, and that the International Atomic Energy Agency warning on Iranian uranium enrichment justified the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

The Government’s strong remarks on Monday, stood in contrast to the tepid statement released on Sunday soon after the US strikes, “We have been clear that Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program has been a threat to international peace and security. We note the US president’s statement that now is the time for peace. The security situation in the region is highly volatile. We continue to call for de-escalation, dialogue, and diplomacy,” an Australian government spokesperson said.

Opposition acting foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie criticised Australia’s initial response as too “ambiguous”.

In contrast to the Government, Opposition leader Sussan Ley released a strong statement supporting the US strikes on Sunday, declaring the Coalition “supports actions taken by the United States of America to ensure that the Iranian regime is stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons.”

“It was made clear by the International Atomic and Energy Agency on June 12 that Iran was in breach of its Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations,” Ley stated.

“The Coalition stands with the United States of America today. We can never allow the Iranian regime the capacity to enact its objectives of the destruction of the United States and Israel.”

Following the government’s clarification on Monday, Hastie welcomed what he described as a bi-partisan stance, stating, “Penny Wong has essentially endorsed our position, and I’m glad we have bipartisanship on this.”

However, Hastie maintained that the Government’s initial response demonstrated the PM was caught “flat footed”, and that “his instincts aren’t great on this.”

Hastie said the Coalition wanted to see Iran engage diplomatically. “What we want to see is Iran submit to the full verification process by the [International Atomic Energy Agency],” he said.

Australia’s former ambassador to Israel and Liberal senator Dave Sharma also criticised the Government’s initial response, suggesting it showed Australia had become “irrelevant” in relation to decision making about the Middle East.

Speaking to Sky News, Sharma said “We had [defence minister] Richard Marles on television yesterday calling for de-escalation at the very same time, almost, that US B-2 bombers [were] flying from Missouri [and] were striking targets in Iran… No one listens to our views seriously anymore…on these issues, particularly on the Middle East.”

Sharma echoed these remarks at the Jewish Communal Appeal (JCA) event in Sydney on Sunday evening saying, “It shows Australia isn’t being brought into the loop when it comes to Five Eyes, intelligence sharing, and it shows that Australia is out of the loop, because [Marles] wouldn’t have had that message if he had any inkling that Trump was preparing to do this.”

Meanwhile, Greens foreign affairs spokesperson David Shoebridge criticised the US strikes, stating, “Our government needs to call out Donald Trump for the warmonger that he is and clearly say that Australia will not be a part of this and speak against yet another.”