Australia gets involved in Middle East crisis

The Australian government very quickly threw its support behind the Israeli and US attacks on Iran on 28 February and followed up today by announcing materiel support will be deployed in defence of the UAE.

FILE PHOTO (2017): An E-7A Wedgetail takes off from Australia’s main logistics base in the Middle East. Photo by Corporal Brenton Kwaterski.

During a press conference at Parliament House this morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia would immediately deploy an E-7A Wedgetail “to the Gulf” and advanced medium range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAMS) to the “United Arab Emirates”.

“We’re taking defensive action to support our partners’ efforts to keep Australians safe,” Mr Albanese said.

“Deployed ADF assets will operate according to the right of collective self defence.

“The Wedgetail and supporting Australian Defence Force personnel will be deployed for an initial four weeks in support of the collective self defence of Gulf nations.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the Wedgetail would be leaving Australia today and the expectation was that it would be in the region in the middle of the week and operational by the end of the week.

“[The AMRAAMs] we will be supplying are defensive weapons and I want to make that clear,” Mr Marles said.

“In terms of the requests we are meeting today and the announcements we are making today – all of this is in the defence of the Gulf countries.

“I want to be really clear about that.”

Justifying today’s announcement, both leaders said there were more than 20,000 Australians based in the UAE and the ADF deployment was aimed at protecting and defending Australians and other civilians in the region.

“The Wedgetail will provide long-range reconnaissance capability which will help to protect and secure the airspace above the Gulf,” Mr Albanese said.

“The first priority of my government is and always will be to keep Australians safe.

“There are around 115,000 Australians in the Middle East, around 24,000 of those in the UAE.

“Helping Australians means also helping the UAE and other Gulf nations to defend themselves against what are unprovoked attacks.

“My government has been clear that we’re not taking offensive action against Iran and we’ve been clear that we are not deploying Australian troops on the ground in Iran.

“We continue to work on contingencies to keep Australians safe and to help travellers leave the Middle East.

“We’ve already sent DFAT personnel to the region as part of crisis response teams. They’re on the ground providing consular support.

“More than 2600 Australians have now returned home, but significant challenges remain and further work is underway to support those still seeking to leave.”

Prime Minister Albanese said Australia had supported action aimed at preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and preventing Iran from continuing to threaten international peace and security.

“Our position remains that we do not want to see the conflict continue to escalate, and we call on all parties to uphold international humanitarian law and to protect civilian life.”

On a related topic, Prime Miniter Albanese said Australia has issued five humanitarian visas to members of the Iranian women’s soccer team and was prepared to assist others on the team if they requested it.

“Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women,” he said.

“They’re safe here and they should feel at home here.”

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