Anthony Albanese says he wants ‘certainty’ from Donald Trump on aims of the war
Updated ,first published
Canberra/Washington: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called on Donald Trump to demand greater clarity about his aims for the war in Iran, as the US president mulled the possibility of seizing the regime’s oil resources and repeated his threat to “blow up” Iran’s energy assets.
Albanese’s use of stronger language after a month-long war in the Middle East came as Trump insisted the war could end quickly following progress in negotiations, even as the Pentagon ordered 10,000 more troops to be sent to Iran.
“I want to see more certainty about what the objectives of the war are and I want to see tensions ease,” Albanese told reporters on Monday. “Therefore, it is in the interest of the global economy to reduce tensions.”
Detailed in an interview with ABC 7.30 On Monday night, Albanese said he wanted to see a “timeframe” for recognition of the conflict and the economic damage it continues to cause.
But the prime minister also wants to see regime change in Iran.
“This is a disgusting regime that oppresses its own people, murders its own people, engages in international terrorism,” Albanese said.
“Of course there has been a change in personnel, but there has been a change in the structures. [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and the ways they interact are still very much in place.”
Later Monday night AEDT, Trump shared on Truth Social that the US was “engaged in serious discussions with a new, more reasonable regime to end our military operations in Iran.”
“Great progress has been made, but if for some reason an agreement cannot be reached soon (as it probably will) and the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately opened to ‘Trade,’ we will end our pleasant ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely destroying all of Iran’s Power Generation Facilities, Oil Wells, and Kharg Island (and probably all the desalination plants!) that we have not yet deliberately ‘touched,'” Trump wrote.
“This will be revenge for the many of our soldiers and others that Iran slaughtered and killed during the former Regime’s 47-year ‘Reign of Terror’.”
Trump told London Finance Times He said in a recent interview that the US military had “a couple thousand more targets to go to” in Iran and that “a deal could be made pretty quickly.”
However, in the same interview, Trump said he wanted to seize Iran’s oil resources; this was a move that would mark a major escalation in the conflict.
“Honestly, my favorite thing is to buy oil from Iran, but some stupid people in the US say: ‘Why are you doing this?’ But they are stupid people,” he said.
Taking Iranian oil would require a risky military operation that includes the occupation of Kharg Island, Iran’s main export hub and also home to an Iranian naval base. Trump said taking Kharg Island “will also mean we have to stay there for a while.”
The United States sent discordant messages regarding the later stages of the war. Trump has pressed for ceasefire talks with Iran as the military increases its forces in the region.
Thousands of US troops, including an amphibious assault team, gathered in the Middle East over the weekend. Members of the 82nd Airborne Division were also en route.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday night (Washington time) that Iran had “gave” America most of the 15 demands it presented to Tehran to end the war, although it was unclear whether either side had negotiated.
“They gave us most of the points. Why wouldn’t they?” he said, declining to specify what kind of concessions Iran had offered.
Iran has publicly rejected a 15-point list of ceasefire conditions offered by the US by the Trump administration through intermediaries in Pakistan, and has responded with five conditions of its own, including maintaining sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
The president said on Sunday that the US and Iran had met “directly and indirectly” and claimed that Iran’s new leaders were being “very reasonable” and would allow 20 more oil cargo ships to pass through the Bosphorus starting Monday (Washington time) as a “sign of respect”.
However, the negotiations did not prevent further military intervention.
“We’re doing extremely well in this negotiation,” Trump said. “But you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up.”
Trump also suggested that the United States had already achieved its goal of regime change, saying, “We are dealing with different people that no one has ever dealt with before,” following the killings of many of Iran’s top leaders, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Albanese said he viewed the Iranian regime as “disgusting and reprehensible” but was unsure whether foreign military intervention could achieve real regime change.
“Whether or not that will happen is something I think needs to be outlined,” he said.
“History tells us that regime change imposed from outside is very difficult,” Albanese said. [It] It tends to occur from the bottom up within the country rather than being imposed from outside, because military action against a nation will tend to encourage nationalism within that nation.”
He did not go as far as Liberal leader Andrew Hastie, who over the weekend called the war a “massive miscalculation” and criticized Trump’s lack of consultation with allies.
Albanese said he believed the U.S. and Israeli strikes “clearly” achieved two other goals: preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and weakening Iran’s ability to finance terrorist proxies in the region.
Iran is believed to still have 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, the removal of which would likely require a complex ground operation.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Galibaf accused the United States of planning a land invasion while sending messages about possible negotiations. He said Tehran was ready to respond if US troops were deployed.
“As long as Americans want Iran to surrender, our answer is that we will never accept humiliation,” he said in a message to the nation.
Bloomberg via Reuters
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