Paul Murray: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Government are torpedoing relationship with the US
It's brutally realistic that the compulsion to fight for your life and your country's existence can affect someone's thinking about national defence.
Israelis don't have the luxury of wishing and hoping that the world was a more peaceful place.
Nor do the Ukrainians. Or the Taiwanese. An existential threat will focus the mind on how much to spend on your survival.
Do Australians need a more obvious regional menace before we start to think seriously about our national security?
As if China didn't make it plain enough with a live firing drill off Sydney and what was obviously meant to be a humiliating circumnavigation of our coastline by part of its navy just to ram home how defenceless we really are.
If and when China wants to do anything about it. Should we just bet that it doesn't?
Instead, stand back wishing and hoping while China buys off another of our regional neighbours that before President Xi Jinping's elevation — and his aggressively expansionist mindset — it didn't care a fig about.
Cash-splashing agreements like the so-called Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the far-distant Cook Islands, all demanding adherence to the One China policy, hardly reflect an altruistic interest in the welfare of the region's inhabitants well beyond its horizons.
In the face of a more dangerous world, Australia's dripping-wet lefties write letters to the editor calling for peace.
Write them to Xi. And Putin. Or the Ayatollah. Good luck there.
The peaceniks admire our Foreign Minister, who always finds some mealy-mouthed way of censuring Israel's efforts to defend itself, words that barely conceal her contempt for the Jewish state.
Our Prime Minister, who never matured his political leanings from indoctrination as an undergraduate Bolshevik, waves away demands for increased defence spending like an unwanted smell.
The only thing Anthony Albanese ever publicly professed a desire to fight is 'Tories.' And he's obviously far more comfortable in the ideological trenches than confronting the real emerging threats to our national security.
Albanese was saved a potential confrontation with Donald Trump this week over his resistance to commit to a realistic national security target because the US President was too busy helping a worthy ally.
One that more than pulls its weight in making the world a safer place.
But Albanese's day of reckoning for his neglect of our national security will arrive one way or another soon enough. Reality has a nasty way of crashing in.
We should all pray that we never face the same sort of existential threats that Israelis wake up to every day. But look at how it responds.
Israel spends about 8.8 per cent of its GDP on defence, some US$46.5 billion provided this year. We have set aside US$38.5b ($59b) which represents a shade over 2 per cent.
Israel's economy is about a quarter the size of Australia's, 34th in the world against 13th. We are significantly wealthier with GDP per capita of US$57,000 against US$42,000. It has a population of 9.5 million against 27 million.
You could fit Israel's land mass 350 times into Australia's. Tasmania is three times bigger. And it is squeezed between countries that want to destroy it while we sit in the splendid isolation of an island continent at the bottom of the world.
In the cyberworld, that isolation offers no defence. When Israel launched its attack on Iran's nuclear and missile launching facilities eight days ago, it had more than 200 fighter planes in the air simultaneously. Our air force notionally has 87.
Obviously, the defensive needs of our two counties are vastly different. There's no way Israel has the same requirement as us for submarines, but it still has five German-made diesel-electric boats with air-independent propulsion for stealth operations. All are believed to be capable of carrying nuclear-armed missiles.
We have six conventionally-armed Collins-class diesel-electric submarines of which only two are believed to be operational at any time.
Which is why our commitment to the AUKUS deal and its provision of long-range stealthy nuclear-powered submarines from the US by the early 2030s is fundamental to our defence posture.
And which is why the US decision to review the AUKUS deal against Trump's America First policy settings is far more serious than Labor is conceding to the public.
Australians need to have a very clear understanding of the timeline that has led to this very serious brinkmanship and how our 'gift horse' attitude has been so damaging.
The annual Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore, much of it held behind closed doors, is one of the most important meetings held by world leaders to discuss the Asia-Pacific region.
There were two notable firsts this year. A European, President Emmanuel Macron of France, delivered the keynote address, signifying piqued interest in the region's tensions, and the Chinese Defence Minister was not present for the first time since 2019.
But the highlight was the address by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth who said America was 'reorienting towards deterring aggression by communist China' and seeking a situation of 'peace through strength' in which China 'cannot dominate us or our allies and partners.'
'Any attempt by communist China to conquer Taiwan would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world,' Hegseth said. 'We are not going to sugarcoat it. The threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent.'
He laid down the gauntlet: 'President Trump has said that communist China will not invade Taiwan on his watch.'
Hegseth also had a public message for America's allies in the region: 'We ask — and indeed, we insist — that our allies and partners do their part on defence. Sometimes, that means having uncomfortable and tough conversations.'
And he set a standard for the commitment: 'NATO members are pledging to spend 5 per cent of their GDP on defence, even Germany.
'So it doesn't make sense for countries in Europe to do that while key allies in Asia spend less on defence in the face of an even more formidable threat, not to mention North Korea.'
While that was immediately reported, Hegseth's private demands to Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles were not.
As the heat rose around Hegseth's comments, Albanese was again asked about America's demand to the Europeans to lift defence spending commitments — and again he came up short.
'What you should do in defence is decide what you need, your capability, and then provide for it,' Albanese said. 'That's what my Government is doing.'
He was leaning, not lifting. Typically.
In a clear response to that, the Americans immediately released a readout of Hegseth's bilateral meeting with Marles in which he said Australia should increase its defence spending to 3.5 percent of its GDP as soon as possible.
That the Americans saw the need to do that should be deeply embarrassing to Albanese and Marles. But they attempted, as usual, to deflect it.
And then the Americans announced the review of AUKUS. That is the pickle we are in.
If it is their genuine intention to measure the deal against America First principles, it is hard to see how it can stand in its present form. The so-called 'assurance' Trump gave on the fly to the UK Prime Minister at the G7 on the future of the deal is meaningless for us.
It needs output of 2.3 new Virginia-class submarines a year by the early 2030s, but is currently running at 1.2 with no signs of immediate improvement despite an extra injection of $10 billion to boost production.
The Americans have already decided that Australia is dragging its feet on defence spending after repeated proddings. Trump has almost certainly concluded that Albanese is recalcitrant.
Regardless of what is going on behind the scenes, Trump requires his allies to make public shows of fealty. Albanese was given plenty of opportunity, but preferred to stubbornly decline.
The proposal by former home affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo, author of the 2009 defence white paper, to offer the submarine repair shipyard at Henderson, south of Perth, as a joint US/Australian facility went unheeded.
The US Navy has a severe backlog in its submarine maintenance program and assured access to Henderson would help clear that, allowing more boats at sea.
That in turn would reduce the risk of a US president in 2032 not certifying the transfer of US subs to Australia — as required by law — on the grounds that it would degrade the US submarine capability.
Albanese's ingrained leftist instincts against increased defence spending — which traditionally drops under Labor governments anyway — are obvious to everyone. And that includes Trump.
For electoral gain, Labor ruthlessly demonised Peter Dutton to look like he was standing too close to Trump.
Now Albanese will be made to pay for not being close enough.
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Perth Now
2 hours ago
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How Trump's presence ... and absence haunted the PM
Almost every world leader is haunted by the spectre of Donald Trump's tariff regime and unfortunately, Anthony Albanese is no exception. Despite this week whistling through three countries in six days, Australia's touring prime minister seemingly couldn't escape the presence of his US counterpart, whether it was real or as the proverbial elephant in the room. Everywhere Mr Albanese set foot, the subject of Mr Trump and import taxes - not to mention the eventual cancellation of trade talks between the two men - seeped into every crevice of his itinerary. At home, a face-to-face meeting for the PM with the so-called leader of the free world had been keenly anticipated since it became apparent the unpredictability of his presidency helped propel Labor to a landslide federal election win in May. So, when Mr Albanese revealed he'd been invited to this month's G7 summit in Canada and that Mr Trump was attending, expectations they would finally meet naturally peaked. The discussion would have been their first in-person encounter and no doubt presented a prime opportunity to negotiate a coveted tariff exemption. Mr Albanese's first stop en route to Calgary was in Fiji, where a local marching band welcomed him with a rendition of the Australian anthem. Soon after touching down and with the aim of blending in, he slipped into a teal island shirt and met with Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. "Visiting Fiji so soon after the election is a deliberate decision to reinforce my government's Pacific priorities," he'd insisted upon departing Australia. But in the scheme of things, the audience in Nadi was pretty much a diplomatic warm-up to Mr Albanese's centrepiece meeting. Despite standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr Rabuka, he was asked by journalists almost exclusively about whether Mr Trump posed a threat to AUKUS, Australia's nuclear submarine deal with the US and United Kingdom. The only other issue mentioned was the Iran-Israel conflict, a matter in which the Republican president also holds significant sway. Rinse and repeat as Mr Albanese flew on to Seattle. There, he and Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman unveiled a multi-billion-dollar investment in Australian data centres from the company's state-of-the-art headquarters, comprised of three gleaming glass spheres that house more than 40,000 plants. However the event was quickly overshadowed, with Mr Albanese 20 minutes later rushing to no less confirm his much mooted meeting with The Donald. Mr Trump at this point was dominating the backdrop of Albo's trip too, as millions of protesting Americans raging against the 47th president on his 79th birthday dominated world headlines. The No Kings rallies were staged nationwide including, of course, on the local streets leading to Seattle's iconic Space Needle, which transformed into a sea of colour and noise. In the wake of this drama, Mr Albanese settled into a series of diplomatic talks on the sidelines of the Calgary summit, nestled in the foothills of the formidable Canadian Rockies. Surely such a geographical barrier would offer sanctuary from Australia's domestic obsession with things Trump but not quite. True, Mr Albanese might reasonably have expected some handy insights on dealing with the everywhere American president during the first of these bilateral meetings, with local counterpart Mark Carney. Canada's prime minister had recently came to office vowing to stand up to the US and though Mr Carney had maintained this stance in multiple subsequent meetings with Mr Trump, their discussions had generally been well received. Rather than keep this topic in-house during his own chat with Mr Carney, however, the subject of diplomacy between allies proceeded to spill into the public arena in a way that must have been impossible for Mr Albanese to ignore. Especially when the subject of bilateral trade and then certain trilateral submarine agreements was canvassed during a joint press conference at the summit between Mr Trump and Sir Keir Starmer. "It's a really important deal to both of us," the British PM declared, referring to AUKUS. "We're very long-time partners and allies and friends, and we've become friends in a short period of time," Mr Trump said. "He's slightly more liberal than I am ... but for some reason, we get along." Offering a final word, Mr Starmer added: "We make it work." And so it was that Australia's diplomatic affairs managed to capture international attention even in Mr Albanese's absence. Beyond his talks with Mr Carney, Australia's prime minister meanwhile tried hard to keep things on topic himself but the ghost of Mr Trump refused to stay away. With 24 hours to go until their scheduled sit down, the president suddenly announced his early departure from G7 so he could rush home to handle the escalating tensions in the Middle East. Mr Albanese promptly said this was "understandable" and with another four rounds of talks to go among other diplomatic events on his own agenda, the show would go on regardless of Mr Trump's emergency exit. But even in his absence, the US president remained. Many leaders, including Mr Albanese, found themselves continuing to reference the importance of the agenda which had solely been of Mr Trump's making: free and fair trade. Days after the summit wrapped up, little seemed to have changed either. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also had talks scheduled with Mr Trump the day after he left. However the two men had already previously faced Mr Trump, while Ms Sheinbaum received a phone call from him post his departure. Mr Albanese returned to Australia on Thursday without having spoken to the main man. He might have had another shot at the end of June, as he was considering attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in the Netherlands, but Mr Trump could just as easily make an early exit there too. Australia's exports to the US meanwhile continue to be hit with a baseline 10 per cent tariff and its steel and aluminium products incur a 50 per cent levy.
West Australian
2 hours ago
- West Australian
How Trump's presence ... and absence haunted the PM
Almost every world leader is haunted by the spectre of Donald Trump's tariff regime and unfortunately, Anthony Albanese is no exception. Despite this week whistling through three countries in six days, Australia's touring prime minister seemingly couldn't escape the presence of his US counterpart, whether it was real or as the proverbial elephant in the room. Everywhere Mr Albanese set foot, the subject of Mr Trump and import taxes - not to mention the eventual cancellation of trade talks between the two men - seeped into every crevice of his itinerary. At home, a face-to-face meeting for the PM with the so-called leader of the free world had been keenly anticipated since it became apparent the unpredictability of his presidency helped propel Labor to a landslide federal election win in May. So, when Mr Albanese revealed he'd been invited to this month's G7 summit in Canada and that Mr Trump was attending, expectations they would finally meet naturally peaked. The discussion would have been their first in-person encounter and no doubt presented a prime opportunity to negotiate a coveted tariff exemption. Mr Albanese's first stop en route to Calgary was in Fiji, where a local marching band welcomed him with a rendition of the Australian anthem. Soon after touching down and with the aim of blending in, he slipped into a teal island shirt and met with Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. "Visiting Fiji so soon after the election is a deliberate decision to reinforce my government's Pacific priorities," he'd insisted upon departing Australia. But in the scheme of things, the audience in Nadi was pretty much a diplomatic warm-up to Mr Albanese's centrepiece meeting. Despite standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr Rabuka, he was asked by journalists almost exclusively about whether Mr Trump posed a threat to AUKUS, Australia's nuclear submarine deal with the US and United Kingdom. The only other issue mentioned was the Iran-Israel conflict, a matter in which the Republican president also holds significant sway. Rinse and repeat as Mr Albanese flew on to Seattle. There, he and Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman unveiled a multi-billion-dollar investment in Australian data centres from the company's state-of-the-art headquarters, comprised of three gleaming glass spheres that house more than 40,000 plants. However the event was quickly overshadowed, with Mr Albanese 20 minutes later rushing to no less confirm his much mooted meeting with The Donald. Mr Trump at this point was dominating the backdrop of Albo's trip too, as millions of protesting Americans raging against the 47th president on his 79th birthday dominated world headlines. The No Kings rallies were staged nationwide including, of course, on the local streets leading to Seattle's iconic Space Needle, which transformed into a sea of colour and noise. In the wake of this drama, Mr Albanese settled into a series of diplomatic talks on the sidelines of the Calgary summit, nestled in the foothills of the formidable Canadian Rockies. Surely such a geographical barrier would offer sanctuary from Australia's domestic obsession with things Trump but not quite. True, Mr Albanese might reasonably have expected some handy insights on dealing with the everywhere American president during the first of these bilateral meetings, with local counterpart Mark Carney. Canada's prime minister had recently came to office vowing to stand up to the US and though Mr Carney had maintained this stance in multiple subsequent meetings with Mr Trump, their discussions had generally been well received. Rather than keep this topic in-house during his own chat with Mr Carney, however, the subject of diplomacy between allies proceeded to spill into the public arena in a way that must have been impossible for Mr Albanese to ignore. Especially when the subject of bilateral trade and then certain trilateral submarine agreements was canvassed during a joint press conference at the summit between Mr Trump and Sir Keir Starmer. "It's a really important deal to both of us," the British PM declared, referring to AUKUS. "We're very long-time partners and allies and friends, and we've become friends in a short period of time," Mr Trump said. "He's slightly more liberal than I am ... but for some reason, we get along." Offering a final word, Mr Starmer added: "We make it work." And so it was that Australia's diplomatic affairs managed to capture international attention even in Mr Albanese's absence. Beyond his talks with Mr Carney, Australia's prime minister meanwhile tried hard to keep things on topic himself but the ghost of Mr Trump refused to stay away. With 24 hours to go until their scheduled sit down, the president suddenly announced his early departure from G7 so he could rush home to handle the escalating tensions in the Middle East. Mr Albanese promptly said this was "understandable" and with another four rounds of talks to go among other diplomatic events on his own agenda, the show would go on regardless of Mr Trump's emergency exit. But even in his absence, the US president remained. Many leaders, including Mr Albanese, found themselves continuing to reference the importance of the agenda which had solely been of Mr Trump's making: free and fair trade. Days after the summit wrapped up, little seemed to have changed either. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also had talks scheduled with Mr Trump the day after he left. However the two men had already previously faced Mr Trump, while Ms Sheinbaum received a phone call from him post his departure. Mr Albanese returned to Australia on Thursday without having spoken to the main man. He might have had another shot at the end of June, as he was considering attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in the Netherlands, but Mr Trump could just as easily make an early exit there too. Australia's exports to the US meanwhile continue to be hit with a baseline 10 per cent tariff and its steel and aluminium products incur a 50 per cent levy.
The Advertiser
3 hours ago
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Conflict in the Middle East is thousands of kilometres away from the desks of Saina Salemi and her colleague Oscar, but the pair constantly discuss blasts and evacuation warnings. Ms Salemi hasn't spoken to her family in Iran for more than three days due to a nation-wide internet blackout, while Oscar - who asked that his surname not be used - has no idea when he'll next see his parents who are trapped in Israel. "My helplessness would have been made worse had someone like Oscar not been here. There's only so many people in your life that can truly understand a situation like this," Ms Salemi told AAP. Israel and Iran have been trading strikes since the Israeli military began its attack a week ago in a bid to wipe out Iran's nuclear program, but geopolitical tensions are not dividing the two friends from Melbourne. "Despite what these countries are putting each other through, the fact that it hasn't got between us even for a millisecond, I feel very touched," Oscar said. The pair are consumed by worry for their families and appalled by the scale of human suffering in countries they remember fondly from holidays. "I said to Ocar, I feel like I'm going crazy, because everybody around me is moving so normally and is going about their day-to-day lives, and I'm just watching a 24/7 live blog all the time," Ms Salemi said. "The Iranian diaspora, we are really tired of people being used as collateral damage." She's angry her family in Tehran have no bomb shelter to go to and worried about what could happen to her elderly grandparents after Donald Trump warned some 10 million people in Iran's capital to evacuate. The president said he will make a decision about whether the US joins the conflict within two weeks, demanding Iran's unconditional surrender. However, Iran has warned of "all-out war" if the US joins the conflict. "I texted my cousin last night telling him I loved him and there's a great numbness that comes with feeling like you're saying 'I love you' to someone for the last time," Ms Salemi said. "I'm yet to hear back from that text message." More than 2000 Australians have registered for assistance to leave Iran and more than 1200 have registered to leave Israel, with Australian military personnel and aircraft being deployed to help. Oscar's parents have barely left their bomb shelter since the conflict flared and he doesn't know how they'll come home, after receiving a warning they may not be safe at Jordan's land border crossing. "I really feel for my parents, I feel for everyone in Tehran, in Gaza, in Tel Aviv," Oscar said. "None of them deserve it, it's exhausting." He's grateful to have grown up in Australia where he and Ms Salemi can lean on each other for support. "I do think that there's something really special about this country where you can have this kind of friendship," he said. "I hope most Australians don't have to understand what it's like having family in these kinds of circumstances." Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 639 people and wounded more than 1300 others, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Israel says Iran's retaliatory strikes killed at least 24 people and wounded hundreds. Conflict in the Middle East is thousands of kilometres away from the desks of Saina Salemi and her colleague Oscar, but the pair constantly discuss blasts and evacuation warnings. Ms Salemi hasn't spoken to her family in Iran for more than three days due to a nation-wide internet blackout, while Oscar - who asked that his surname not be used - has no idea when he'll next see his parents who are trapped in Israel. "My helplessness would have been made worse had someone like Oscar not been here. There's only so many people in your life that can truly understand a situation like this," Ms Salemi told AAP. Israel and Iran have been trading strikes since the Israeli military began its attack a week ago in a bid to wipe out Iran's nuclear program, but geopolitical tensions are not dividing the two friends from Melbourne. "Despite what these countries are putting each other through, the fact that it hasn't got between us even for a millisecond, I feel very touched," Oscar said. The pair are consumed by worry for their families and appalled by the scale of human suffering in countries they remember fondly from holidays. "I said to Ocar, I feel like I'm going crazy, because everybody around me is moving so normally and is going about their day-to-day lives, and I'm just watching a 24/7 live blog all the time," Ms Salemi said. "The Iranian diaspora, we are really tired of people being used as collateral damage." She's angry her family in Tehran have no bomb shelter to go to and worried about what could happen to her elderly grandparents after Donald Trump warned some 10 million people in Iran's capital to evacuate. The president said he will make a decision about whether the US joins the conflict within two weeks, demanding Iran's unconditional surrender. However, Iran has warned of "all-out war" if the US joins the conflict. "I texted my cousin last night telling him I loved him and there's a great numbness that comes with feeling like you're saying 'I love you' to someone for the last time," Ms Salemi said. "I'm yet to hear back from that text message." More than 2000 Australians have registered for assistance to leave Iran and more than 1200 have registered to leave Israel, with Australian military personnel and aircraft being deployed to help. Oscar's parents have barely left their bomb shelter since the conflict flared and he doesn't know how they'll come home, after receiving a warning they may not be safe at Jordan's land border crossing. "I really feel for my parents, I feel for everyone in Tehran, in Gaza, in Tel Aviv," Oscar said. "None of them deserve it, it's exhausting." He's grateful to have grown up in Australia where he and Ms Salemi can lean on each other for support. "I do think that there's something really special about this country where you can have this kind of friendship," he said. "I hope most Australians don't have to understand what it's like having family in these kinds of circumstances." Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 639 people and wounded more than 1300 others, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Israel says Iran's retaliatory strikes killed at least 24 people and wounded hundreds. Conflict in the Middle East is thousands of kilometres away from the desks of Saina Salemi and her colleague Oscar, but the pair constantly discuss blasts and evacuation warnings. Ms Salemi hasn't spoken to her family in Iran for more than three days due to a nation-wide internet blackout, while Oscar - who asked that his surname not be used - has no idea when he'll next see his parents who are trapped in Israel. "My helplessness would have been made worse had someone like Oscar not been here. There's only so many people in your life that can truly understand a situation like this," Ms Salemi told AAP. Israel and Iran have been trading strikes since the Israeli military began its attack a week ago in a bid to wipe out Iran's nuclear program, but geopolitical tensions are not dividing the two friends from Melbourne. "Despite what these countries are putting each other through, the fact that it hasn't got between us even for a millisecond, I feel very touched," Oscar said. The pair are consumed by worry for their families and appalled by the scale of human suffering in countries they remember fondly from holidays. "I said to Ocar, I feel like I'm going crazy, because everybody around me is moving so normally and is going about their day-to-day lives, and I'm just watching a 24/7 live blog all the time," Ms Salemi said. "The Iranian diaspora, we are really tired of people being used as collateral damage." She's angry her family in Tehran have no bomb shelter to go to and worried about what could happen to her elderly grandparents after Donald Trump warned some 10 million people in Iran's capital to evacuate. The president said he will make a decision about whether the US joins the conflict within two weeks, demanding Iran's unconditional surrender. However, Iran has warned of "all-out war" if the US joins the conflict. "I texted my cousin last night telling him I loved him and there's a great numbness that comes with feeling like you're saying 'I love you' to someone for the last time," Ms Salemi said. "I'm yet to hear back from that text message." More than 2000 Australians have registered for assistance to leave Iran and more than 1200 have registered to leave Israel, with Australian military personnel and aircraft being deployed to help. Oscar's parents have barely left their bomb shelter since the conflict flared and he doesn't know how they'll come home, after receiving a warning they may not be safe at Jordan's land border crossing. "I really feel for my parents, I feel for everyone in Tehran, in Gaza, in Tel Aviv," Oscar said. "None of them deserve it, it's exhausting." He's grateful to have grown up in Australia where he and Ms Salemi can lean on each other for support. "I do think that there's something really special about this country where you can have this kind of friendship," he said. "I hope most Australians don't have to understand what it's like having family in these kinds of circumstances." Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 639 people and wounded more than 1300 others, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Israel says Iran's retaliatory strikes killed at least 24 people and wounded hundreds. Conflict in the Middle East is thousands of kilometres away from the desks of Saina Salemi and her colleague Oscar, but the pair constantly discuss blasts and evacuation warnings. Ms Salemi hasn't spoken to her family in Iran for more than three days due to a nation-wide internet blackout, while Oscar - who asked that his surname not be used - has no idea when he'll next see his parents who are trapped in Israel. "My helplessness would have been made worse had someone like Oscar not been here. There's only so many people in your life that can truly understand a situation like this," Ms Salemi told AAP. Israel and Iran have been trading strikes since the Israeli military began its attack a week ago in a bid to wipe out Iran's nuclear program, but geopolitical tensions are not dividing the two friends from Melbourne. "Despite what these countries are putting each other through, the fact that it hasn't got between us even for a millisecond, I feel very touched," Oscar said. The pair are consumed by worry for their families and appalled by the scale of human suffering in countries they remember fondly from holidays. "I said to Ocar, I feel like I'm going crazy, because everybody around me is moving so normally and is going about their day-to-day lives, and I'm just watching a 24/7 live blog all the time," Ms Salemi said. "The Iranian diaspora, we are really tired of people being used as collateral damage." She's angry her family in Tehran have no bomb shelter to go to and worried about what could happen to her elderly grandparents after Donald Trump warned some 10 million people in Iran's capital to evacuate. The president said he will make a decision about whether the US joins the conflict within two weeks, demanding Iran's unconditional surrender. However, Iran has warned of "all-out war" if the US joins the conflict. "I texted my cousin last night telling him I loved him and there's a great numbness that comes with feeling like you're saying 'I love you' to someone for the last time," Ms Salemi said. "I'm yet to hear back from that text message." More than 2000 Australians have registered for assistance to leave Iran and more than 1200 have registered to leave Israel, with Australian military personnel and aircraft being deployed to help. Oscar's parents have barely left their bomb shelter since the conflict flared and he doesn't know how they'll come home, after receiving a warning they may not be safe at Jordan's land border crossing. "I really feel for my parents, I feel for everyone in Tehran, in Gaza, in Tel Aviv," Oscar said. "None of them deserve it, it's exhausting." He's grateful to have grown up in Australia where he and Ms Salemi can lean on each other for support. "I do think that there's something really special about this country where you can have this kind of friendship," he said. "I hope most Australians don't have to understand what it's like having family in these kinds of circumstances." Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 639 people and wounded more than 1300 others, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Israel says Iran's retaliatory strikes killed at least 24 people and wounded hundreds.
