Australia is not participating in an “offensive action against Iran” and will not deploy ground troops into Iran, but may play a defensive military role in the conflict in the Middle East, Penny Wong has said.
double quotation markMany countries which are non participants have been attacked, by Iran through this. You would anticipate as a consequence, that we have been asked for assistance and we will work through that, carefully. And of course, we are.
When asked by host David Speers if that meant assistance to protect them against Iran’s drone and missile attacks, Wong said:
double quotation markCorrect. And we will work through that in accordance with the position that I have outlined, which is we are not participating in offensive action against Iran. And we’ve made clear we would not participate in any ground troop deployment into Iran.
Asked what that defensive military assistance might involve, Wong said:
double quotation markIf a decision is made, I’m sure that we will be transparent with the Australian people.
