War in the Middle East is dangerous; Albanese missed his opportunity

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s belated abandonment of Australia’s neutral stance on the US joining Israel’s attack on Iran is a continuation of the defensive and slow-footed reaction that has marked his record over the 18 months since the Middle East reignited.

With US President Donald Trump posturing for days on taking military action against Tehran, Albanese had adequate preparation time. Yet, when the attacks came, the prime minister stayed silent on support. Instead, his office issued a statement by an anonymous government spokesperson calling for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy.

Iranian protesters and a child step on a poster with a vampire-like illustration of US President Donald Trump in Revolution Square to protest against US attacks on nuclear sites in IranCredit: Getty Images

Such lame silence opened the door for the opposition’s canny acting foreign affairs spokesperson, Andrew Hastie, to seize the initiative and back the US strikes and scramble the government onto Monday morning television programs, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek eventually confirming that the government did indeed support Trump’s strikes.

Albanese then emerged on Monday to declare that, while the attacks were unilateral action by the US, “Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon, and we support action to prevent that”. He should have said it loud and clear on Sunday.

That is not to say the prime minister was letting down our ally by not automatically endorsing American action. The US has been so erratic of late that we do not owe it that, not least because so many unanswered questions flow from the weekend.

The legality of the US action is wide open to interpretation and Trump’s declaration that Iran’s nuclear program had been “completely and totally obliterated” sits awkwardly beside assertions a day later by senior US officials they did not know the fate of Tehran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has belatedly abandoned Australia’s neutral stance on the US joining Israel’s attack on Iran.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Further, the UN’s nuclear watchdog confirmed all three Iranian facilities had been badly damaged, but said it was not yet in a position to assess the impact underground and Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at the three sites.

Trump’s withdrawal in 2018 from the Iran nuclear deal reached by seven countries after two years of gruelling negotiation may have helped push Tehran down its current obstinate path. But in the 10 days of war with Israel this month, Iran has received little but verbal support from allies and is perhaps now the most isolated it has been since the 1979 US embassy hostage crisis.

This is undoubtedly a moment of extreme danger for the region and the world and nobody should be falling down on the side of the men who run the Iranian regime. Their long history of state-sponsored terrorism is evil and their actions over the past week show why they are a continuing danger to peace in the Middle East.

Against such a background, it is difficult to comprehend why Albanese equivocated and risked being seen as not adroit enough to come down hard on the Iranian regime and its need for a doomsday nuclear program.

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