Foreign Minister Marise Payne has defended Australia’s decision to join the United States’ military deployment to protect oil supplies from Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz, rejecting warnings of “mission creep” by former army chief Peter Leahy.
Ms Payne said on Sunday Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s decision to send 200 troops to the strait did not put Australia “at odds” with Iran, saying the government had “a very good working relationship with the Iranians”.
“We have an embassy in Iran, which is something that not very many other countries are able to say,” Ms Payne said.
The Minister refused to “speculate” on whether Mr Morrison would try to sway US President Donald Trump to re-engage on the Iran nuclear deal at the G7 summit in France this weekend, and said the two issues were “quite separate”.
“Every country makes their own decisions and just because we don’t make the same decision doesn’t mean we’re at odds,” the Minister said.
“I’m personally hoping to see Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif at a conference in Bangladesh next month, which is also an opportunity to continue our talks.”
Asked by Insiders‘ stand-in host Fran Kelly why Australia was “signing up to yet another US-led mission” at a time of “a rising and assertive China”, Ms Payne said Australia had “a very strong interest in de-escalating the tensions” and that the action was “appropriate and reasonable”.
Read the article by Dana McCauley in WAtoday.