PM's meeting with Trump in doubt as Middle East conflict escalates
Canberra/Nadi: Anthony Albanese's first face-to-face meeting with US President Donald Trump risks being derailed as Israeli strikes on Iran seize global attention ahead of a G7 summit in Canada.
Albanese told Australians to avoid the region and pointed to new government advice not to travel to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories as Iran prepared retaliatory strikes.
Speaking in Fiji on Friday before heading to the United States and Canada, the prime minister warned of Iran's nuclear program, but called for a diplomatic solution.
'We, of course, are very conscious of the threat that Iran becoming a nuclear state would represent to peace and security in the region,' Albanese said on Friday.
'We want to see these issues resolved through dialogue, and the United States has been playing an important role there.'
Despite weeks of commentary about possible talks with Trump on tariffs and defence, a Trump-Albanese meeting had not been formally secured when the prime minister departed on Friday.
Trump has not yet confirmed meetings with any world leaders at the G7, which begins on June 15, but Australia was confident it would secure an informal conversation on the sidelines or a bilateral meeting in Canada.
Two Australian government sources familiar with planning for the trip said Australia had for several days contemplated if an Israel-Iran war, which had been foreshadowed for some time, might force Trump to skip the G7 meeting entirely. Trump is also managing a heated domestic row, which he has been widely accused of stoking, over protests in Los Angeles.
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