Australia supports strikes on Iran nuclear facilities: Wong
Foreign Minister Penny Wong is reiterating her call for Iran to come back to the negotiating table. ( ABC News: Pedro Ribeiro )
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Perth Now
37 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Fears for 4200 Aussies stranded in war zone
More than 4000 Australians are waiting to be evacuated in Israel and Iran, with Foreign Minister Penny Wong flagging a potential small window that could allow Australian officials to move them. Plans have become more precarious after the US launched strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, with Iran vowing retaliation against America. Iran and Israel have also continued to trade strikes. On Monday morning, Senator Wong said 1300 Australians in Israel and 2900 Aussies in Iran had registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs as wanting to leave; however, evacuation attempts in Iran are more complicated. Australian officials have been stationed at the Azerbaijani border, with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trading (DFAT) releasing photos of the operation assisting Australians leave the war zone on Monday. 'Obviously, in relation to Iran, the situation is very difficult. The airspace is closed. We no longer have Australian officials in the country,' Senator Wong told Adelaide radio station FiveAA. 'We made a difficult decision to close our embassy and ask them to leave because of the risk … particularly to diplomats that we know does exist historically in Iran, in times of the unrest.' DFAT released photos of officials stationed at the Azerbaijani border who are assisting Aussies leaving Iran. DFAT Credit: Supplied While there are 'reports' the airspace over Israel may be open 'for a window today (Monday)', Senator Wong said it was a fast-moving situation. 'We have contacted people on the ground, but obviously the situation changes very quickly, and the risk is high, so we have to take that one step at a time,' she said. On Sunday, DFAT said that while the airspace remained closed, the government would be assisting bus transfers between Tele Aviv in Israel to Amman in Jordan. Although Australia's embassy in Tehran, Iran's capital, remains closed, Australia's Ambassador to Iran Ian McConville has remained in the area to support the government's response. DFAT urged 'Australians who want to leave Iran to do so now, if it is safe, otherwise shelter in place'.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
A day after nominating Donald Trump for Nobel Peace Prize, Pakistan condemns his bombing of Iran
Pakistan condemned the strikes ordered on its neighbour Iran by Donald Trump on Sunday. But a day earlier, Islamabad had said it would nominate the US president for the Nobel Peace Prize for helping end a four-day conflict with India last month. It said he had "demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship". However, in its latest statement, Pakistan said Mr Trump's decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities violated international law and that diplomacy was the only way to resolve the Iran crisis. "The unprecedented escalation of tension and violence, owing to ongoing aggression against Iran is deeply disturbing," Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Also on Sunday, Pakistan's prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, telephoned Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and "conveyed Pakistan's condemnation of the US attacks," a statement from the Pakistani leader said. Pakistan's information minister and the foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the apparent contradiction in the country's positions over the weekend. In Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, thousands marched in protest against the US and Israeli strikes on Iran. A large American flag with a picture of Mr Trump on it was placed on the road for demonstrators to walk over. The protesters shouted out chants against America, Israel and Pakistan's regional enemy India. Mr Trump hailed the mission, which involved stealth bombers launching strikes on three uranium enrichment facilities, as a huge success. The targets at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan had been "totally obliterated" he said. Iran's president says the US must receive a "response to their aggression" after Sunday's attacks, as new satellite imagery shows damage at the Fordow nuclear site. Overnight, Vice-President JD Vance said the US was not at war with Iran and had "no interest in boots on the ground". Reuters
Daily Telegraph
an hour ago
- Daily Telegraph
‘What an idiot': New York Times savaged over ‘boys on the bombers' fact check
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News. The US has officially joined Israel in its battle against nuclear power Iran, and the New York Times was ready and waiting to wag a woke finger in the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his choice of words in a press briefing. In a Sunday news conference, Hegseth heaped praise on President Trump and the military campaign that saw six 'bunker buster' bombs dropped on key nuclear sites in the country. 'The operation President Trump planned was bold and it was brilliant, showing the world that American deterrence is back,' he said, warning, 'when this president speaks, the world should listen — and the US military, we can back it up.' At one point, Hegseth casually called the B-2 pilots who dropped the 15-ton bombs on targets in Iran 'our boys on those bombers,' which the New York Times appeared to jump on. 'In the briefing, Hegseth referred to B-2 pilots as 'our boys on those bombers,' yet both men and women have been trained to fly them,' NYT Pentagon reporter John Ismay corrected the record on the outlet's blog. The posting drew hundreds of scornful comments on social media. 'This is why people use the New York Times to line their bird cages,' one poster mused. 'Yes, let's make sure to be politically correct at this serious time,' another sarcastically quipped. 'What an idiot. We women know exactly what Secretary Hegseth meant,' said an X user. It's not clear whether any women took part in the 37-hour B-2 bomber raid, which saw the stealth planes take off from and return to Whiteman Air Force Base in western Missouri. What are the New York Times doing? Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP Pete Hegseth during a media conference. Photo:/AFP It's a bizarre time to drop a fact check on something that wasn't even trolling from the Trump administration, particularly when Iran threatened US bases in the Middle East as a result of the US attacks. International concern focused on fears that the unprecedented US attacks would deepen conflict in the volatile region after Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran earlier this month. Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said bases used by US forces could be attacked in retaliation. 'Any country in the region or elsewhere that is used by American forces to strike Iran will be considered a legitimate target for our armed forces,' he said in a message carried by the official IRNA news agency. 'America has attacked the heart of the Islamic world and must await irreparable consequences.' President Donald Trump urged Iran to end the conflict after he launched surprise strikes on a key underground uranium enrichment site at Fordo, along with nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz. 'We had a spectacular military success yesterday, taking the 'bomb' right out of their hands (and they would use it if they could!)' he said on social media. The B-2 bombers dropped the bombs on Iran. Photo by US Department of Defense / AFP And while the US president did not directly advocate regime change in the Islamic republic, he openly played with the idea – even after his aides stressed that was not a goal of American intervention. 'It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. 'But if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!' Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing earlier that Iran's nuclear program had been 'devastated,' adding the operation 'did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people.' Standing beside Hegseth, top US general Dan Caine said that while it would be 'way too early' for him to determine the level of destruction, 'initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.' With AFP This story first appeared in the New York Post and was republished with permission. Originally published as 'What an idiot': New York Times savaged over 'boys on the bombers' fact check
