Anthony Albanese speaks after US strikes on Iran, Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Australia supports US strikes on Iran

Anthony Albanese has refused to directly answer as to whether Australia was briefed prior to Donald Trump’s decision to strike three Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday. Speaking to reporters for the first time after the US President confirmed the attacks, the Prime Minister repeatedly said the strikes were a “unilateral action by the United States”. Asked why UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was given advanced notice, Mr Albanese said: “The UK has been one of the countries that’s been at the negotiating table with Iran for many years on its nuclear weapons program.” Asked again whether Australia was “briefed prior to the attack,” Mr Albanese said: “This was unilateral action taken by the United States.” While Mr Albanese is facing criticism from the opposition that the government was slow to reiterate its support for the US, Mr Albanese officially backed Mr Trump’s actions. He added that Australia supported any actions to de-escalate Iran’s nuclear operations. “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,” he said. “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.” He also said Australia wasn’t a “central player in this conflict” and watered down concerns the government was slow to respond. “That’s just a fact. And what we do is we run an orderly, stable government, but I made comments about this in three countries over recent days,” he said. Mr Albanese said there was “clear” information that Iran was making efforts to increase its nuclear capabilities, including enriching uranium beyond levels needed for “civilian nuclear power”. He also said the US’s actions were warranted given Mr Trump had given Iran the opportunity to negotiate. “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,” he said. Asked about Australia’s terror threat level, which was raised from possible to probable in August last year, Mr Albanese said there had been “no change in any of the advice that has been issued”. “The ASIO Director-General and our security intelligence agencies are constantly engaged in monitoring,” he said. The Prime Minister’s address began shortly after he convened a meeting of the National Security Committee, and comes amid criticism he and key ministers were missing in action after the US confirmed the strikes on Sunday. The top-level NSC committee allows the government to make high-priority and high-risk decisions while surpassing approval from cabinet. It includes senior government ministers like Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Energy Minister Chris Bowen, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, and Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy. Earlier on Monday, Senator Wong confirmed the Australian government’s support for the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday. She also confirmed Australia had not received requests for Australian troops by the US. Mr Trump confirmed the strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities on Sunday, saying the US had dropped a “full payload of bombs”. Labor did not hold a press conference on Sunday following the strikes, instead issuing comment via a government spokesman acknowledging Mr Trump’s statement while continuing calls for “de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy”. Asked on Today on Monday morning whether the government supported the strike on Iran, Senator Wong said they “support action to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon”. “And that is what this is – so your answer, the answer, is yes,’ she said. “I’ve said that upfront.” Host Karl Stefanovic pressed Senator Wong on whether support for the US strike contradicted the government’s position of advocating for de-escalation. “Oh, what I said was Iran had to come to the negotiating table, and we urged Iran to come back to the negotiating table and engage in diplomacy,” Senator Wong said. “It’s the same thing – I think the US President was saying it’s the same thing, that Prime Minister Starmer was saying it’s the same thing … but we are where we are now. “The question is what happens next.” Senator Wong said her heart went out to the thousands of Australians still caught in Iran and in Israel and to their friends and families back home. “We are not in a – we have not been in a position, obviously, as a consequence of the security situation, to continue with land border crossings,” she said. “There are reports – and I don’t put any higher than that – reports of airspace opening for Israel for a limited period. “We are working on contingency arrangements to see if we can get a flight in to collect people, and we have notified people on the ground about that. “The situation in Iran is even worse and more serious. We obviously have had to make the difficult decision to close our embassy and (told) our diplomats to leave for obvious reasons.” Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie promptly shared a joint statement on Sunday, saying the Coalition “stands with the United States of America today”. “The Coalition supports actions taken by the United States of America to ensure that the Iranian regime is stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons,” it said. “While Australians will never seek conflict in the world, we can never forget that the Iranian regime is a militantly theocratic autocracy. “It expressly seeks the destruction of our allies, enacts extrajudicial killings of political dissidents and brutally represses the rights of women and girls. “It is the Iranian people who are the victims of this brutal regime and we stand in solidarity with them.” More to come