Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said Australia supports the United States’ attack on nuclear facilities in Iran over the weekend.
US President Donald Trump said the unprecedented strikes had “totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities, while Iranian officials downplayed both the damage and loss of previously enriched uranium.
Israel — which started striking Iran on 13 June — declared its support for the US attack, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing it as a “bold, righteous, and historic” action.
Iran has strongly criticised the attack and said it won’t go unanswered. On Monday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said the US “must receive a response“, while Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said the US had “waged a war” against it under an “absurd pretext”.
‘The key question is what happens next’
Speaking on ABC radio’s RN program on Monday morning, Wong said the world had agreed “Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon” and that Australia “supports action to prevent that”.
Israel has for decades warned Iran was developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has consistently denied that claim, saying its uranium enrichment program is exclusively for peaceful purposes such as energy.
International assessments have found no evidence Iran has an active nuclear weaponisation program, and it is a signatory to the UN’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel is not a signatory to the treaty, and is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons itself, but has never confirmed or denied this.
Shortly before Israel launched strikes against Iran on 13 June, the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran was in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years, saying it had failed to provide the agency with “full and timely co-operation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities”.
Wong said despite Australia supporting the US strikes, the “key question is what happens next”, and urged de-escalation.
“Australia says, like so many other countries, we do not want escalation and a full-scale war, and we continue to call for dialogue and diplomacy,” she said.
Wong was asked if her calls for diplomacy extended to demanding Israel stop its attacks on Iran.
“We have seen strikes, we have seen what the US has done, we have seen the destruction, or the debilitation, of these nuclear facilities. Now is the time for diplomacy. Now is the time for de-escalation, and … that call is to all parties,” she said.
Wong also appeared on Channel 9’s Today program, where she said the US had not made any requests of Australia regarding action in Iran, and wouldn’t speculate on the future.
She wouldn’t say whether or not Pine Gap, Australia’s joint intelligence surveillance base with the US in the Northern Territory, played a role in the US strikes on the weekend.
Wong said more than 4,000 Australians had registered for help to leave the Middle East — around 2,900 in Iran, and 1,300 in Israel. Australian officials have been deployed to Iran’s border with Azerbaijan to assist Australians who were able to cross.
“People have to make a judgement about how risky that is. But we urge them to move if they believe they can do so safely,” she told ABC’s RN.
“In relation to Israel, the airspace is closed. There is some prospect of a window of airspace opening. Obviously, that is highly dependent on the situation on the ground. And we are seeking to try and arrange a facilitated flight in the event that the airspace opens.”
Coalition ‘glad to see’ bipartisanship
Andrew Hastie, the Opposition’s acting foreign affairs spokesperson, reiterated the Coalition supports the US strikes on Iran, telling ABC’s RN he was “glad to see that Penny Wong has essentially endorsed our opinion” and “glad we have bipartisanship on this”.
“Do we support the US in their strikes? Yes, we do. Why? Because we don’t want to see Iran getting a nuclear weapon.
“We support those strikes, and now we want to see dialogue and diplomacy.”
— With additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press
