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Topics: Iran, Australia, Politics, World News, Donald Trump, US News
Callum Jones
Topics: Iran, Australia, Politics, World News, Donald Trump, US News
Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Australia, has called for an end to the war in Iran following the joint US-Israel attack in February.
The attack lead to the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, with the Middle Eastern country firing back with its own retaliation attacks.
Countries with US military bases such as Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have all been targeted by Iran missiles in retaliation attacks, while the war has also caused energy prices to soar worldwide with the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Albanese has suggested the war has achieved its initial key aims of brining a stop to Tehran's nuclear and missile capability and questioned what more is to achieve.
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Speaking on Thursday (April 2) at the National Press Club in Canberra, the Aussie prime minister said: "We did express support for the original objectives: preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon, and degrading its capacity to endanger its neighbors.
"And now those objectives have been realized, it is not clear what more needs to be achieved — or what the endpoint looks like."
Albanese expressed his concern for the global economy if the war was to continue.
While Australia may be a close ally of the US, it's not actively participating in the war, though it has deployed an electronic surveillance aircraft to help the UAE.
"What I have said very clearly, though, is that I do want to see a de-escalation, and I want there to be recognition as well as greater clarity about how this ends," Albanese added to press.
In a speech late on Wednesday, Trump said the US was 'nearing completion' of its 'core strategic objectives' in the war, though the president did say he was 'going to hit them extremely hard' in the coming weeks.
"If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard, and probably simultaneously," the president added.
"We have not hit their oil, even though that's the easiest target of all, because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding."
While much of the world has been damaged by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump has downplayed its importance to the US.
"We don't need it. We haven’t needed it, and we don’t need it. We've beaten and completely decimated Iran," he added in his speech to the nation on Wednesday.
"And the countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Straight must take care of that passage. They must cherish it. They must grab it and cherish it."