‘We had to beat the drones': Fear and stress for Australians caught in Israel-Iran conflict
Melbourne barrister Leon Zwier had only been in Tel Aviv a few days when sirens in the city blared to life. It was 3am on Friday, and a new front in Israel's long-simmering conflict with Iran had begun.
Within hours of Israel's attack on Iran, word came that Iran had sent back a retaliatory wave of drones. Suddenly, Zwier found himself leaping into a car for an early morning dash down the highway to Jerusalem where he was due to attend a conference. 'We had to beat the drones there so we'd be off the highways when they hit,' said Zwier.
But en route, they learnt that 'the army had got the timings wrong' and the drones were even closer than they had thought. 'This wasn't the usual attacks from Iran's proxies like the Houthis. This was Iran, the big one.'
Fortunately, 'the Israeli Air Force shot those drones down', Zwier said. The economic conference he was attending was held in the basement of a hotel, so it went ahead as planned even as missiles continued to rain down overhead. 'The first event was actually about stress management!'
Loading
More than 1200 Australians are trying to get out of Israel and Iran as conflict escalates between the two nations – and flights remain grounded in both.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said there were 650 Australians and their dependants who have asked the government to help them get out of Iran and 600 people in Israel.
'We are making plans to assist Australians where it is safe to do so,' Wong told the ABC on Tuesday afternoon. 'But at the moment, the airspace continues to be closed, and the reason for that is the risk to civilian aircraft of a strike.'
One Melbourne mother on holiday in Iran when the fighting broke out is now stranded there, cut off from her young children, according to Kambiz Razmara, who is helping co-ordinate support for the Iranian diaspora at Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Democratic world is vulnerable, Chalmers warns
Western governments risk losing the faith of working people if they fail to meet their aspirations, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will warn as he admits country's economy and budget bottom line need to improve. In a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Chalmers will warn against assuming 'extreme volatility' seen around the world is temporary as he makes a pitch for productivity reform against the backdrop of conflict in the Middle East roiling global markets. 'In important ways, we outperformed our peers,' Chalmers will say, noting inflation has fallen without unemployment spiking. 'We should be proud of that, but not satisfied with that.' The Australian economy has managed to avoid recession and maintained a labour market that is stronger than before the pandemic. However, the country's economic growth has lagged some of its peers, grinding backwards in the 12 months to March when accounting for population growth. Eight days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made his own Press Club appearance urging the need to restore faith in government, Chalmers will pinpoint the need to boost living standards for working people. 'So much of the democratic world is vulnerable because governments are not always meeting the aspirations of working people,' he will say. 'Our budget is stronger, but not yet sustainable enough,' Chalmers will argue. 'Our economy is growing, but not productive enough. It's resilient, but not resilient enough – in the face of all this global economic volatility.' While trade uncertainty is higher than it was during the global financial crisis, Chalmers will note there are opportunities for Australia if the country could diversify its trade, make the economy more resilient and shore up supply chains. 'Since Liberation Day, Australian shares have outperformed US ones,' he will say. 'These are normally signs that investors are becoming more wary of the US and more attracted to Australia's stable markets.'
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
Democratic world is vulnerable, Chalmers warns
Western governments risk losing the faith of working people if they fail to meet their aspirations, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will warn as he admits country's economy and budget bottom line need to improve. In a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Chalmers will warn against assuming 'extreme volatility' seen around the world is temporary as he makes a pitch for productivity reform against the backdrop of conflict in the Middle East roiling global markets. 'In important ways, we outperformed our peers,' Chalmers will say, noting inflation has fallen without unemployment spiking. 'We should be proud of that, but not satisfied with that.' The Australian economy has managed to avoid recession and maintained a labour market that is stronger than before the pandemic. However, the country's economic growth has lagged some of its peers, grinding backwards in the 12 months to March when accounting for population growth. Eight days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made his own Press Club appearance urging the need to restore faith in government, Chalmers will pinpoint the need to boost living standards for working people. 'So much of the democratic world is vulnerable because governments are not always meeting the aspirations of working people,' he will say. 'Our budget is stronger, but not yet sustainable enough,' Chalmers will argue. 'Our economy is growing, but not productive enough. It's resilient, but not resilient enough – in the face of all this global economic volatility.' While trade uncertainty is higher than it was during the global financial crisis, Chalmers will note there are opportunities for Australia if the country could diversify its trade, make the economy more resilient and shore up supply chains. 'Since Liberation Day, Australian shares have outperformed US ones,' he will say. 'These are normally signs that investors are becoming more wary of the US and more attracted to Australia's stable markets.'
Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Trump must decide whether to join the kind of war he's always sworn he'd avoid
Washington: US President Donald Trump is weighing a critical decision in the five-day-old war between Israel and Iran: whether to enter the fray by helping Israel destroy Iran's deeply buried nuclear enrichment facility at Fordow, which only US 'bunker busters' dropped by US B-2 bombers, can reach. If he decides to go ahead, the United States will become a direct participant in a new conflict in the Middle East, taking on Iran in exactly the kind of war Trump has sworn, in two campaigns, he would avoid. Iranian officials have warned that American participation in an attack on its facilities will imperil any remaining chance of the nuclear disarmament deal that Trump insists he is still interested in pursuing. Trump has encouraged Vice President J.D. Vance and his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to offer to meet the Iranians this week, according to a US official. The offer may be well received. Trump, at the Group of Seven summit in Canada, on Tuesday (AEST), said: 'I think Iran basically is at the negotiating table, they want to make a deal.' If such a meeting happened, officials say, the likely Iranian interlocutor would be the country's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, who played a key role in the 2015 nuclear deal with the Obama administration and knows every element of Iran's sprawling nuclear complex. Araghchi, who has been Witkoff's counterpart in recent negotiations, signalled his openness to a deal, saying in a statement, 'If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential.' Loading 'It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu,' he said, referring to the Israeli prime minister. 'That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy.' But if that diplomatic effort fizzles, or the Iranians remain unwilling to give in to Trump's central demand that they must ultimately end all uranium enrichment on Iranian soil, the president will still have the option of ordering that Fordow and other nuclear facilities be destroyed. There is only one weapon for the job, experts contend. It is called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or the GBU-57, and it weighs so much – 30,000 pounds (13 tonnes) – that it can be lifted only by a B-2 bomber. Israel does not own either the weapon or the bomber needed to get it aloft and over a target.
