Australia may offer military support to Gulf nations facing Iran strikes but won’t participate in a ground war, Wong says | Penny Wong

The Australian government is considering offering military support to assist Gulf states facing attacks from Iran, but will not participate in any ground military deployment to Iran, the Australian Foreign Minister has said.

The government has confirmed nine flights have arrived in Australia from the Middle East since the US and Israel attacked Iran a week ago, with another three flights scheduled to arrive on Sunday. Dozens of Australians were also taken on buses from Qatar, which has limited airspace, to Saudi Arabia to fly from the region.

Foreign minister Penny Wong confirmed to ABC’s Insiders on Sunday that the government had been asked to provide assistance to counter Iran’s missile launches.

“Many non-participating countries have been attacked by Iran in this way,” Wong said.

“As a result, you can imagine that we have been asked for help, and we will work carefully on this matter. And of course we do.”

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Asked if that meant assistance to protect them against Iranian drone and missile attacks, Wong said: “Correct. And we will work on that in line with the position I stated earlier, which is that we are not participating in offensive action against Iran.”

This announcement is the next step for the government, which has maintained that it will not engage in any “offensive” military action against Iran.

Wong reiterated that the government would not send Australian defense force personnel into conflict.

“This is not Iraq and we are not the Howard government, we are not asking Australians to accept sending Australian men and women into ground combat,” Wong said.

“We laid out very clearly the basis for the decision and the parameters of our participation.”

Wong again defended the government’s claim that Australia was not involved in offensive action after it was confirmed on Friday that three Australian personnel were aboard a US submarine that torpedoed an Iranian warship near Sri Lanka.

He said the deployment of Australian personnel to third countries was “nothing new” but added that any Australians deployed overseas would still be subject to Australian law.

“This deployment of Australian defense personnel is nothing new. We always have arrangements in place to ensure that when deployed… every personnel complies with Australian law, Australian policy and Australian directives.”

On 5 March, the Department of Defense launched Operation Beech, part of consular efforts to provide assistance to Australians stranded in the Middle East, deploying the Royal Australian air force’s C-17A Globemaster heavy transport aircraft and the precautionary KC-30A Multi-Purpose Tanker Transport.

Labor continued to urge Australians to use commercial flight options to return home.

On Sunday the government confirmed 1,549 Australians arrived in Australia on nine commercial flights from the United Arab Emirates. Three more flights will operate from the UAE to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth on Sunday. A total of 92 Australians were bused from Qatar to Saudi Arabia, while Qatar Airways informed the government that 68 Australians departed for Europe from Doha on Saturday.