The foreign minister, Penny Wong, has confirmed that the government has been asked to provide military assistance to combat missiles and drone attacks that Iran has launched against neighbouring countries.
“Many countries which are non-participants have been attacked by Iran through this,” Wong said.
“You would anticipate as a consequence that we have been asked for assistance and we will work through that carefully. And of course, we are.”
The national security committee of cabinet met on Monday and is expected to meet again on Tuesday to discuss the request.
What could Australia offer to assist Middle East nations?
Defence analysts believe assistance could be related to boosting defence against drone and missile strikes, including those on oil infrastructure, but what would that look like?
The Australian defence force does not have missile defence systems, such as the Patriot, that it can deploy to the region, but it is introducing NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System), which can address short- and medium-range threats.
Fergus McLachlan, a retired Australian Army Maj Gen who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq and is now an adviser in the defence industry, told the ABC “the most likely contribution across the Gulf would be our airborne early warning and control aircraft – the Wedgetail – it’s a world-class capability.
“It has done deployments into eastern Europe where, based out of Poland, it has the ability to observe drones and missiles that are heading towards Ukraine. I think that would be the most suitable contribution we could make.”
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has six E-7A Wedgetail aircraft based out of Williamtown air force base near Newcastle. McLachlan said information gathered by the Wedgetail could be passed on to interceptor aircraft to destroy incoming drones such as the Shahed.
McLachlan said the complicating factor for the government was that in deploying airborne warning and control systems (Awacs) into the region, flight crews would be aware of US and Israeli flights attacking targets in Iran as well as defensive operations.
“The government will be spending time making sure that the role of the Awacs is deconflicted from that offensive activity.”
Other RAAF aircraft, such as the EA-18G Growler, the F/A-18F Super Hornet or the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, could be used to detect and intercept incoming drones, but so far the government has not indicated this is being considered.
Wong has ruled out Australian defence force personnel being deployed directly into the conflict or contributing ground troops.
“This is not Iraq, and we are not the Howard government, we are not asking Australians to accept Australian men and women being deployed into a ground war,” Wong said on Sunday. “We have made very clear the basis of the decision and the parameters of our engagement.”
The shadow defence minister, James Paterson, has asked for a briefing on the plans.
What is Australia doing in the Iran war so far?
Defence has launched Operation Beech, part of the consular effort to provide assistance to Australians stuck in the Middle East, deploying a RAAF C-17A Globemaster heavy transport aircraft and KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport as part of contingency planning. Wong and senior ministers have continued to direct Australians to use commercial flight options to return home. Dozens of Australians have also been bussed out of Qatar, which has limited airspace, to Saudi Arabia to fly out of the region.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, confirmed on Friday that three Australian sailors were aboard the US submarine that sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, killing at least 87 people.
Is there opposition to Australia’s involvement?
The Greens have criticised Wong’s statement as risking “mission creep” and the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson, David Shoebridge, has warned against Australia becoming involved in another lengthy war. The Greens have also urged Labor to prevent intelligence from Pine Gap or other US bases in Australia being used in the conflict.
International law scholars, former diplomats and former intelligence officials say the war on Iran breaches international law and risks sparking a wider confrontation and retaliatory attacks.
Inside Labor, some party activists are speaking out. The grassroots Labor Against War group has publicly condemned the bombings, called for Albanese and Wong to withdraw support and pledged to advocate for “immediate withdrawal” from the Aukus nuclear submarine deal.
The former prime minister Tony Abbott has a different view. He has criticised Labor for not assisting the US. “The current attempt to destroy forever the Iranian theocracy’s nuclear cravings will make the world safer, fairer and better – yet the shameful, humiliating reality is that Australia is doing nothing practical to bring it about,” he wrote on Monday.
