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Australia has supported weekend US strikes on Iran and called for a de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East which are threatening to explode after US President Donald Trump ordered the bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran.
He declared that the “very successful attack had completely and totally obliterated Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities.”
The decision to directly involve the US in the war came after more than a week of Israeli strikes on Iran.
Operation Midnight Hammer aimed to systematically eradicate the country’s air defences and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities.
HOW THE AMERICAN ATTACK WAS CARRIED OUT
Seven B2 stealth bombers, each carrying a 13.5 tonne bunker-busting bomb, led the strikes accompanied by more than two dozen tomahawk missiles fired from a US navy submarine 600 kilometres away.
They offered the best chance of destroying the heavily fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground.
“We have completed our very successful attack on three nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan,” President Trump first announced in a post on social media.
“All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.”
“THERE WILL BE PEACE OR THERE WILL BE TRAGEDY FOR IRAN”
The president portrayed the strike as a response to a long-festering problem, even if the objective was to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
He called Iran “the bully of the Middle East” and warned of additional attacks if it didn’t make peace.
“For 40 years Iran has been saying death to America, death to Israel. They have been killing our people.”
“There will be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.”
“IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR”
“Future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier. There are many targets left.”
“If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill,” the president warned.
He added in a later post: “This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!”
ISRAEL’S RESPONSE
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the president’s decision to attack:
“Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the awesome and righteous might of the United States, will change history,” he said.
He added that the US “has done what no other country on earth could do.”
IRAN’S NEXT MOVE
Iran’s top diplomat warned that the “outrageous” US attacks on its nuclear sites “will have everlasting consequences. Tehran reserves all options to retaliate.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is due to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin whom he described as “close friend of Iran,” in Moscow on Monday (June 23).
Three damaging Iranian missile strikes hit the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa in response to the US strikes.
Apartment blocks were ripped apart with huge holes in the facades, but there was no loss of life.
AUSTRALIA’S RESPONSE
Nearly 24-hours after the US strikes, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed the government supported the military action.
“The world has agreed Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. So yes, we support action to prevent that. And that is what this is,” she said.
“The big question is now what? And 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.”
On Sunday, a government spokesperson stopped short of offering an endorsement of the strikes, saying: “We note the US president’s statement that now is the time for peace.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Senator Penny Wong declined to make any public comment on Sunday.
AUSTRALIAN OPPOSITION SUPPORTS US ACTION
That’s unlike the federal coalition which was quick to supported the US action, noting it was taken to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“The world can never accept a nuclear-armed Iranian regime and today the United States military has taken proactive action to ensure that we never need to,” Opposition leader Sussan Ley and acting opposition spokesman for foreign affairs Andrew Hastie wrote in a joint statement.
“While Australians will never seek conflict in the world, we can never forget that the Iranian regime is a militantly theocratic autocracy.”
“It is the Iranian people who are the victims of this brutal regime and we stand in solidarity with them.”
AUSTRALIANS TRYING TO FLEE THE REGION
About 2600 Australians in Iran are seeking assisted departures from the region.
Around 1200 in Israel are trying to do the same as the Australian government urges travellers not to venture to either nation.
Staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs have evacuated the Tehran embassy and are helping Australians leave through the border in Azerbaijan.
