Israel-Iran war: Deputy PM Richard Marles confirms nearly 4000 Australians are seeking evacuation
Deputy Prime Minister Minister Richard Marles says nearly 4000 Australians have sought evacuation support from the Israel-Iran conflict, as the Middle East war intensifies in the wake of US-led airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday the US military had struck three sites in Iran, marking a direct entry into Israel's campaign to dismantle Tehran's nuclear program.
Mr Marles on Sunday struggled to explain Australia's position on whether the government supports potential US strikes, instead continuing to urge 'de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy'.
'The Iranian nuclear ballistic missile program is most definitely a threat to the peace and stability of not only the Middle East,' Mr Marles said.
'We have used our voice to urge de-escalation. And that's our position in respect of both the Iranian program, but also, more specifically, in respect of this conflict.'
He said Australia had ramped up their support network in the region and were ready and willing to evacuate stranded citizens out of both nations with charter flights at the ready.
However, he said a key obstacle to evacuation efforts was that Iranian airspace remained closed.
'The numbers of Australians, both in Iran and Israel, seeking assisted departures has grown,' he told Sky News on Sunday.
'This number is probably already out of date, but the last briefing is around 2600 Australians in Iran are seeking assisted departures, and around 1200 in Israel.
Australia has deployed consular officials to Azerbaijan to assess how they can assist citizens trying to cross the border out of Iran.
The government has also positioned civilian charter planes and military aircraft — a C-17 and a KC-30 capable of carrying hundreds — at the El Minhad base near Dubai, where its usual team of 40 personnel has been boosted to around 300 to support a range of scenarios.
'So, we really are poised to provide whatever assistance we can in the event that airspace opens up,' Mr Marles said.
'We have had a couple of groups leave Israel by land through Jordan. We're hoping to do a couple of more groups today.'
Mr Marles said he has been in contact with the United States and that Australia would continue to maintain communication on the Middle East situation, though he declined to disclose further details.
He also mentioned that the upcoming NATO meeting in the Netherlands he will attend instead of Prime Minister Anthony Alabnese will focus on strengthening strategic alliances and defense spending.
Mr Marles said rearranged plans for a meeting between the PM and Mr Trump after they one-on-one was canned on the sideline of the G7 in Canada would occur in the 'not too distant future'.
'We continue at ministerial level and at official level to have pretty real constant contact with the United States, as you would expect,' he said.
'Our alliance with the US is the cornerstone of our strategic and foreign policy.
'We are managing all the equities associated with that relationship, and it is fundamentally going well.'
Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan said the Albanese government has isolated itself from Israel and needs to show clearer moral resolve on wanting Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
'One of the real problems with the way the government has pursued the current issues in the Middle East is they seem to have isolated themselves from the Israeli government,' Mr Tehan told Sky News.
'I think that has left them in a situation where they're really trying to walk two sides here.
'I think what we need to see from the government is greater moral clarity as to whether they do, once and for all, want to see Iran rid of its nuclear weapons program.'
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