Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Australia supports US strikes on Iran
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has confirmed the Australian government's support for the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday.
Donald 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 spokesperson 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.'
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.'
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