Australia has thrown its support behind United States military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declaring that Iran must never be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons. The Prime Minister also issued an urgent call for all Australian citizens currently in the Middle East to leave the region immediately, citing rapidly escalating security risks.
Anthony Albanese confirmed Australia's backing of the joint US and Israeli military operations targeting Iran's nuclear infrastructure during a press conference in Canberra. The Prime Minister stressed that the strikes were aimed at preventing the Islamic Republic of Iran from advancing its uranium enrichment program to weapons-grade capability, a threshold international inspectors had warned was increasingly close.
The military action comes after years of failed diplomatic efforts to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which the United States withdrew from under former President Donald Trump in 2018. Tensions between Washington and Tehran have intensified in recent months, with the International Atomic Energy Agency reporting that Iran had stockpiled enriched uranium well beyond agreed limits and was restricting access to key sites.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles reinforced the government's position, stating that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose an unacceptable threat to global security and stability across the broader Middle East. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also backed the government's stance, calling the strikes a necessary measure, while security analysts warned that the situation could trigger retaliatory action from Iranian-backed proxy groups across the region.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has raised its travel advisory for Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and surrounding nations to the highest level, urging Australians to depart by any available commercial means. The federal government is understood to be preparing contingency plans for assisted departures if commercial options become unavailable, and a crisis response team has been activated within DFAT to coordinate support for an estimated several thousand Australians still in the region.