Middle East conflict: Australia to play role in US-Israel-Iran war as Albanese confirms request for assistance

Australia will play a role in the US-Israel-Iran war after committing to deploy an advanced surveillance aircraft and air-to-air missiles for the “defence of the countries of the Gulf”.

In an extraordinary strategic shift, an Australian E-7A Wedgetail aircraft and unspecified quantity of advanced medium range missiles, known as an AMRAAM, has been sent to bolster Gulf nations’ defences against Iranian retaliatory strikes.

Anthony Albanese has insisted that it is a “purely defensive” operation for an initial four-week period and Australia wouldn’t engage in the US-Israel led strikes on Iran which started on February 28.

While the Prime Minister has maintained that the decision was prompted by a request from the United Arab Emirates it came just hours after a phone call with US President Donald Trump early Tuesday morning.

He said it was among a “range of requests” from UAE president Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan but wouldn’t disclose what else the Gulf nation had sought from Australia.

Mr Albanese told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday, however, that he was “not deploying Australian troops on the ground in Iran”.

He said the priority was to keep Australians safe and assist nations in defensive actions against “unprovoked attacks”.

“The United Arab Emirates alone has been forced to shoot down over 1500 rockets and drones,” Mr Albanese said.

“This growing wave of dangerous and destabilising attacks from Iran puts civilian lives at risk. Of course, including Australian lives, of which there are more than 20,000 people based in the UAE.

“My government has been clear that we are not taking offensive action against Iran, and we’ve been clear that we are not deploying Australian troops on the ground in Iran.

“Our position remains that we do not want to see the conflict escalate.

“We are taking defensive action to support our partners’ efforts to keep Australians safe.”

It comes as The Nightly revealed on Monday that preparations were underway.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said that the UAE was “enormously grateful” for Australian assets, which he confirmed would leave for Australia today and be operational by the end of the week.

Mr Albanese described his conversation with President Mohammed bin Zayed as “positive” and revealed the UAE had also penned “a range of requests” in writing to Australia but wouldn’t give specific details on the war wish list.

“The conversation I had with MBZ was just a positive one. We received a written request from the UAE, and we responded. There were a range of requests,” he said.

Mr Albanese also described his phone call at 2am AEDT with Mr Trump as warm but “fairly lengthy”.

He said the leaders primarily discussed the plight of members of the Iranian women’s soccer team who have sought asylum in Australia after a silent protest at the Women’s Asian Cup.

When asked directly by The Nightly if the pair also spoke about military support, he avoided directly answering, insisting it was a “private conversation”.

“I had a range of discussions with — a fairly lengthy discussion with President Trump,” he said.

“As always, I refer to my previous other responses to questions such as that about private conversations.

“It was a warm conversation between myself and President Trump, primarily about the Iranian soccer team, but obviously we also discussed world events.”

Mr Marles said 85 ADF personnel would be required to operate the aircraft in the region and insisted it was a priority to help protect the more than 24,000 Australian who live in the gulf.

“It is for the defence of the countries of the Gulf, in particular the UAE, where there are a significant number of Australians that reside,” Mr Marles said.

“We are really pleased to be able to make this contribution.

“Speaking with my counterpart in the UAE they are also enormously grateful for the contribution we are making.”

Opposition leader Angus Taylor said the Coalition supported deploying the assets to help regional allies counter Iranian attacks on civilian infrastructure and secure vital trade routes.

“We very much welcome the decision announcement made by the government to support our allies in their work against this regime and particularly the Wedgetail,” Mr Taylor said.

His Shadow Defence Minister James Paterson said it was a strategic move which would help securing Gulf waterways and airspace is a matter of Australian national interest amid concerns over global oil supplies.

“If they can be cleared, that will allow the resumption of the flow of oil through the Gulf,” Mr Paterson said.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge accused Labor and the Liberals of being “war parties” and accused Mr Albanese of acting solely at the request of the Trump administration.

“The Australian public are watching in horror as Labor is dragging them into another US forever war,” he said.

“They’ve been led by the nose by Donald Trump into Donald Trump’s war.

“Let us be clear, there is no Australian national interest in sending our troops into this illegal war. Australia is not an ally of the UAE for very good reason — it has an appalling human rights record.”