Minister tight-lipped on Middle East military request
Zac de Silva and Andrew Brown |
The government is refusing to say which Gulf nation has requested Australian military support as the families of diplomats are ordered home.
Australia is considering deploying troops to the Middle East to protect against Iranian attacks which have thrown travel plans and global markets into chaos, but officials insist any action would be purely defensive.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has confirmed at least one country has asked for Australia’s help.
Pressed on the details on Monday, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the government would provide more information “in due course”.
“We have received those requests and those requests are being considered,” she told reporters in Sydney.
The families of Australian diplomats have been told to leave the United Arab Emirates as the conflict escalates.
“The Australian government has directed the departure of dependants of Australian officials posted to the UAE, due to the deteriorating security situation,” Senator Wong said in a post on social media platform X.
More than 1700 Australians have returned home from the UAE since the start of the conflict, Senator Wong said.
Repatriation flights for Australians stranded in the region are operating from the UAE and Qatar to Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
Iran has launched strikes against neighbouring countries including the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain following US and Israel-led attacks which killed the country’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Ted O’Brien said he was open to Australia helping countries in the Gulf and had requested a briefing from the government.
“The United States and Israel have been doing the heavy lifting for the free world here,” he told ABC Radio.
Jennifer Parker, an expert associate at the Australian National University’s national security college, said Australian forces would likely be sought to relieve pressure on the militaries of allied regimes.
“I would suspect that we will try and assist with the issues of missile and drone detection, and potentially missile and drone interception,” she told AAP.
“We could consider deploying fighter jets to the region to help defend the Gulf countries against these attacks. That would probably be the most effective deployment for Australia.
“That comes with some complications in terms of stressing that they’re being used for defensive, rather than offensive, roles.”
Australian forces could also be used to provide support to get oil through the Strait of Hormuz – the route through which one-fifth of the world’s supplies travel.
Iran has been blocking access to the strait following the attacks, causing petrol and diesel price spikes.
Sending Australian defence personnel to the region was unlikely to put them at greater risk of attack, Ms Parker said.
“Australia is considered as allied with the US anyway, and so therefore, because of that relationship, Iran would consider Australians as targets in the same way that they have in some of the Gulf countries,” she said.
AAP