What we learned, 22 June 2025
With that we’re wrapping up the blog. The US strike on Iran, the likely consequences for the Middle East and the global order have, of course, dominated the discussion today. Here’s a quick recap.
President Donald Trump announced about 10am AEST that the US had bombed nuclear sites in Iran, including the Fordow nuclear site. The strike was carried out by US stealth B2 bombers, in coordination with the Israeli leadership.
The Australian government has called for “de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy” in the Middle East and warned Australians the security situation in the region remains volatile.
The Coalition says it “stands with the United States of America today” in a statement supporting the attacks.
The Greens say the bombing of Iran is a “flagrant breach” of international law and called upon the government not to be dragged into another brutal conflict in the region.
Crowds gathered in Sydney and Melbourne for pro-Palestinian protests.
We’ll pick things up again tomorrow.
Updated
NSW building regulator to get $145.1m injection
Returning again to domestic Australian politics, New South Wales’ building regulator will receive a $145.1m cash injection over the next four years in the 2025-2026 state budget to better fund compliance initiatives.
The funding will go to allowing for the digitisation of penalty infringement notices, to better allow the regulator to perform more targeted inspections, and more prosecutions.
It will also be used to fund taskforces in coordination with the with Fair Trading, Asic, ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) and the NSW State Coroner, to ensure all necessary prosecutions across different jurisdictions can be carried out.
The minister for building, Anoulack Chanthivong said the funding bump showed that the Minns government was working to ensure build quality.
Ensuring homes, whether they be apartments or free-standing houses, are built to the highest standards is critical to helping address the housing crisis we inherited in NSW.
To do this, the NSW government established Building Commission NSW as a dedicated regulator with the aim of restoring confidence in the construction sector and ensuring building quality is improved across the state.
Commissioner, James Sherrard said the regulatory had already carried out “thousands” of inspections across the state and the funding boost “will provide the Commission the funding security it needs to keep inspections going and ensure building quality is maintained across the state.”
It will also allow us to continue to progress key building legislative reforms, and deliver education to the industry, so the sector is supported and can continue to improve into the future.
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Federal Labor ministers at odds over contentious NT gas pipeline decision, internal document shows
Senior Albanese government ministers disagreed over whether a controversial Northern Territory gas pipeline should be allowed to go ahead without being fully assessed under national environment laws, an internal document shows.
An environment department brief from February shows representatives for the agriculture minister, Julie Collins, and the Indigenous affairs minister, Malarndirri McCarthy, were concerned about the impact of the Sturt Plateau pipeline’s construction on threatened species and First Nations communities.
A delegate for Collins argued the development should be declared a “controlled action”, a step that indicates it was likely to have a significant impact on a nationally important environmental issue and required a thorough assessment under federal law.
The brief, released under freedom of information laws, shows this was not accepted by the department, acting on behalf of the then environment minister, Tanya Plibersek. It concluded the pipeline did not need a national environmental impact statement before going ahead.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Adam Morton and Lisa Cox.
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Heckler interrupts Hastie
A press conference held by Andrew Hastie has been interrupted by a protester who has heckled the shadow defence minister, accusing the US of engaging in an illegal war and asking whether there was any evidence to justify US attacks.
The press conference is Hastie’s third statement on the conflict today, including an earlier appearance on ABC Insiders and a joint-statement issued with Coalition leader Sussan Ley.
Hastie sought to cast the US attack on Iran as a “necessary action”:
President Trump gave the offer of negotiations, and over the last two days, the Iranians have not taken up that offer. So the Coalition stands in solidarity with the Iranian people. We regret the loss of life in Iran and Israel, and we hope for a peaceful settlement going forward.
Hastie was interrupted by the heckler who challenged the shadow defence minister over the Coalition’s position.
He added that there was “always a risk” that the conflict may escalate further:
War is the one area of public policy that you can’t control. Wars can really get out of control. And I think there’s also a risk that if the Iranian regime falls, we’ll see a mass movement of people out of Iran into places like Europe. So there’ll be refugees. And then there is the question of who fills the vacuum. If the regime collapses. And we’ve seen what happened to Iraq with Isis, we saw what happened in Afghanistan as well. So these are very difficult and tricky times ahead. But the Coalition wants peace. We want a peaceful settlement.
And I think we can hopefully move forward now that the three key facilities have been targeted. But then again, we have to wait for the battle damage assessment that will come out over the coming days.
No senior members of the Albanese government have fronted cameras to speak about the US attacks on Iran but the government issued a statement a few hours ago attributable to an unnamed spokesperson.
Updated
Fears for Iranian civilians
In the wake of the United States bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, Australian Iranians’ fears for friends and family in their ancestral homeland are growing, not only over aggression from the US but from the nation’s weakened government.
Kambiz Razmara, the vice-president of the Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria, said Donald Trump’s intervention had added to the fear and trauma experienced by Iranian people while intensifying pressure on the Iranian government:
We are devastated by what we see and the suffering of people … if in light of the devastations, no change is brought about in Iran, then all the suffering would only serve the purposes of those who brought on the war, as we are certain that oppression would further escalate in Iran.
To me as I process the information, [Trump] has asserted his control and, at the very least, the crumbs of his deal making should be the freedom of our people.
Now that they’ve done it, [the US] cannot back off the regime, because it would be terrible for our people.
Razmara’s community in Melbourne have much greater fear at how a vulnerable Iranian government might treat its people than a US invasion, he said.
Trump’s call for peace after announcing the bombing raised the prospect of a peace deal, which Razmara feared could leave the Iranian government empowered to treat its citizens more aggressively:
I just feel so desperate that the reality of what we are facing … for our Iranian communities in Iran, is just further devastation, further oppression, because [the government is] going to double down, so it’s just no win situation for the Iranians.
Updated
‘Israel is doing the world’s work,’ Tony Abbott says
Tony Abbott has become the latest former Australian prime minister to react to US strikes against Iran:
Israel is doing the world’s work in trying to destroy forever the Iranian nuclear weapons programme and it’s good that America has supported its ally.
Updated
Zionist Federation hails US strikes
The Zionist Federation of Australia has welcomed US strikes on Iran as a “necessary and courageous response to an urgent threat”, claiming that Iran has “pursued nuclear weapons while sponsoring terrorism that has killed thousands of Israelis, Americans and others across the world”:
Iran’s actions are not just a danger to Israel, they are a clear and present threat to the West and to the international rules-based order. We commend President Trump and the United States for their moral clarity and leadership in taking decisive action to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The Zionist Federation of Australia stands in full solidarity with Israel and the United States, and thanks all those working to confront the Iranian regime’s aggression and protect global security. We hope these actions help pave the way for a more stable and peaceful Middle East.
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‘What will happen to Iranian people?’
Australian advocate Rana Dadpour has made contact with friends and family in Iran after losing connection from them for two days. They were anxiously awaiting their government’s next move, she said, and fearing the repercussions, whether the Islamic Republic retaliates against the US or pursues peace.
Nuclear leaks and radiation from the destroyed sites were the most pressing concern for those living nearby, with distrust for official advice driving some to seek help online, Dadpour, co-founder of advocacy organisation AusIran, said.
But others further from the three facilities feared the government would accelerate executions of political prisoners, while arrests were surging once more amid the war as police accused people of spying for Israel:
Right now, they are even more scared of the regime, because now they feel like it has been crushed on so many fronts, and the only side that it can turn to and take revenge [is] Iranian people, because they are not armed. They don’t have any means to protect themselves.
Dadpour, a former Iranian citizen, left the country after feeling her life was at risk after her involvement in peaceful protests. She said people living in Iran felt little optimism whether the government fought back or sued for peace:
If the regime decides to retaliate, and bring on another crisis … then what will happen to Iranian people? Will there be more bombs falling on them?
[Or] if the regime in Iran decides for any reason to sit [at] the table and negotiate, then … people are again being left alone with a regime that is now hurt and weakened, and [its] primary target will be Iranian people again.
Updated
‘A flagrant breach of anything that resembles legality’
Allan Behm, a special adviser at the Australia Institute thinktank, said the US decision to bomb Iranian nuclear sites was a “flagrant breach” of the international rules-based order.
Behm, a former adviser to the now foreign minister, Penny Wong, told Guardian Australia:
America has held the leadership of the free world since the end of the second world war, and one of the legacies of American leadership has been what we love to call the international rules based order. This is, I think, a flagrant breach of anything that resembles legality in the conduct of international relations.
The Americans had no reason to go and bomb Iran. They did it because they could, in the same way that Israel, which might have had a little bit more of a reason, but I don’t think it had sufficient reason to use armed force.
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‘That would be a tragic lack of sovereignty’
David Shoebridge also attacked the Albanese government over its “moral failure”, both in its statements and practical actions, to distance itself from the US actions, including leaving Aukus, removing US bases from Australian soil and ending the two-way arms trade with Israel:
Of course we hold concerns that just like with other attacks in the region, that Pine Gap may have helped deliver this illegal attack on Iran.
The Albanese government may not have been told by the US government what use they’re making of those so-called joint facilities in Australia. That would be a tragic lack of sovereignty by Australia.
But the Albanese government should make a clear statement that no military base in Australia, whether joint, a joint military base with the United States or otherwise, will be used for this unfolding US war, the third US war in the Middle East in this century.
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Greens demand government reveal whether Australian base was used in US strikes on Iran
Australia should take immediate steps to distance itself from the US over its strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and to “clearly and unambiguously” disclose whether Pine Gap was used in targeting the facilities, Greens defence spokesperson David Shoebridge says.
Shoebridge described the strikes by the US as a “dangerous escalation” in the Middle East.
Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and now Iran. Now we’re seeing the ultimate consequence of that anywhere to put any – that failure to put any red lines in, for Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu.
Our government is likely to come out and say these are actions of self-defence. That’s either ignorant of or deliberately contrary, this is an illegal attack by the United States on top of another illegal attack by Israel. This is not self-defence
Shoebridge said a statement released by the Albanese government was “largely an echo” of how US president Donald Trump has been framing the strikes as self defence.
The millions of Australians have been waking up for the last weeks and months anxious about looking at their phone about the spiral of violence in the world.
They want their government to be a force for peace. And at this moment, being silent when a bully like Donald Trump breaks international law and starts the United States’ third war in the region just this century, being silent is complicit in that escalation and violence.
Where is the red line the Albanese government has for the escalation and violence from the Netanyahu government, or the escalation in violence from Donald Trump’s government?
Updated
Coalition issues statement in support of US
The Coalition leader, Sussan Ley, has released a statement with the acting shadow minister for foreign affairs, Andrew Hastie, on the US strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, describing the attacks as “proactive action” to end a potential threat:
It was made clear by the International Atomic and Energy Agency on 12 June that Iran was in breach of its Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations after stockpiling more than 400kg of 60% enriched uranium at Fordow – the last step in enrichment towards a nuclear weapon.
The world can never accept a nuclear-armed Iranian regime and today the United States military has taken proactive action to ensure that we never need to.
A nuclear-armed Iranian regime would be a serious and direct threat to world peace and stability, especially as it continues to engage in terrorism including by supporting its proxies: Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
While Australians will never seek conflict in the world we can never forget that the Iranian regime is a militantly theocratic autocracy. It expressly seeks the destruction of our allies, enacts extrajudicial killings of political dissidents and brutally represses the rights of women and girls. It is the Iranian people who are the victims of this brutal regime and we stand in solidarity with them.
The Coalition stands with the United States of America today. We can never allow the Iranian regime the capacity to enact its objectives of the destruction of the United States and Israel.
Hastie appeared on ABC Insiders this morning just before the strikes were announced, saying he believed the US would strike Iran and restated his belief that Israel had a right to defend itself.
Updated
Crowds gather in Australian cities for peace in Middle East
Large crowds have gathered for pro-Palestine rallies in Sydney and Melbourne, with speakers calling for peace and an end to war as the US entered Israel’s war on Iran by attacking three nuclear facilities.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, speaking at the Sydney rally, said the world was watching history repeating, referring to the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US as part of the “Coalition of the willing”.
In Melbourne, Iranian flags have been seen in the crowd as a protest march called for an end to hostilities with the chant “hands off Iran”.
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NSW treasurer hints at upcoming budget measures
Returning now to domestic Australian news for a moment, NSW treasurer Daniel Mookhey has been out teasing the state budget that is due to be released on Tuesday.
Mookhey told the Australian Associated Press news agency that inflation was easing and that “the challenge in front of the state and the nation is making sure that we are growing our economy fast enough to support a rise in living standards”:
There’s a lot of opportunity and a lot of ambition in NSW and the changes we’re making are designed to hold on to what we love … but also ensure that our kids and our grandkids have the same level of opportunity that we had.
On Mookhey’s radar is changes to the state worker’s compensation scheme which he says is becoming unsustainable due to rising costs and the prevalence of psychological injuries:
It’s been a hard case to argue. This system is failing everybody. It’s a system that is fundamentally broken.
The treasurer also flagged help for mental health support in the health system and warned that the federal distribution of GST will make it hard for the state budget to be brought into surplus.
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Albanese government calls for ‘de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy’ in Middle East
In a statement attributable to an Australian government spokesperson after the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites, the Albanese government said:
We have been clear that Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program has been a threat to international peace and security.
We note the US president’s statement that now is the time for peace.
The security situation in the region is highly volatile.
We continue to call for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy.
Australians in Israel and Iran and the region should continue to monitor public safety information provided by local authorities, including to shelter in place when required.The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will be communicating directly with registered Australians about preparations for assisted departures.
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Diplomacy the answer in Middle East, US expert says
Bruce Wolpe, a senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre, said Trump’s public remarks confirming the strikes on Iran were the “toughest” statement a US president had made towards an enemy since 9/11:
Trump’s message was unyielding and decisive. Stop your attacks on Israel, or we will come back, stop your nuclear program, or we will come back.
Wolpe is a former staffer to Julia Gillard who also worked with the Democrats during US president Barack Obama’s first term.
He said an escalation in the conflict would have “indirect but serious” consequences for Australia, with any potential closure to the Strait of Hormuz to have major economic implications globally.
Wolpe said the best thing Australia could do was encourage Iran to return to the negotiating table and to stop its acts of aggression against Israel.
Asked if sending troops to the region should be considered, he said: “Goodness no.”
I think the best message right now is to tell Iran to stop and conduct diplomacy.
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‘Australia should act in terms of its national interests’
Scott Morrison has also dismissed any comparison between the US strikes against Iran and the Bush administration’s unilateral invasion of Iraq, suggesting the attack was a “very clear strike with very specific purposes”:
I understand the argument made between trying to draw equivalence between this and actions in Iraq. I suspect that won’t be the case here.
Morrison said there was no suggestion the US will be sending in “any sort of ground force or anything of that nature”:
As a result, I think the two are very different and I don’t think there’s anything at this point in time to suggest any equivalence these two events.
Asked about what he thought Australia’s role should be going forward, Morrison said Australia’s national interests were aligned with the US “on questions of the Indo-Pacific and particularly the Taiwan Straits”:
Australia should act in terms of its national interests.
Updated
‘It’s time to end this’: Scott Morrison backs strikes on Iran
The US president, Donald Trump, had “no further options” other than to strike Iran and that the country must now “lay down their arms” by giving up their nuclear program, former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison says.
Speaking to ABC new, Morrison said “only the US military” could strike Iran’s nuclear program. Morrison defended Trump, saying that he had not “rushed towards” a decision:
He has been resolute about the need to resolve this issue and that was only going to occur with what we’ve seen today. Now, with that action, I think it is still contained. It was very direct in where they struck, and the message he has sent clearly to the regime is the ball is very much in their court. And it’s time to end this. And to move towards a peace.
Morrison has said the decision hadbeen taken through his “peace through strength” initiative, a phrase that has also been used by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
He said while Israel wanted regime change in Iran, the US wanted Iran to return “to the table now and completing what would be an unconditional arrangement when it comes to their nuclear facilities”:
There was no roadmap to peace before. There was none. Iran, you can’t negotiate with an authoritarian regime like Iran.
Asked about Iran’s repeated efforts to negotiate, and no clear evidence from the US intelligence community or other authorities that there was evidence Iran was close to building a nuclear weapon, Morrison said Iran’s intent was “well known”:
It’s not a risk we were prepared to take, with an authoritarian regime who says it wants to vaporise the state of Israel.
After his electoral defeat in 2022, Morrison was considered Australia’s most unpopular prime minister since 1987.
Updated
US strikes against Iran ‘spectacular military success’: Trump
Donald Trump has declared mission accomplished in his address to the nation, describing strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities as a “spectacular military success” carried out in close collaboration with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu:
I can report to the world the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.
Trump also pledged further US strikes “if peace does not come quickly”.
For more on this developing story, head over to the Guardian’s Israel-Iran war live blog:
Updated
Israel fighting to maintain ‘monopoly on the possession of these weapons of mass destruction’, analyst says
Responding to questions about whether US strikes against Iran will end its nuclear program, analyst Mouin Rabbani said that, unlike Israel, Iran was a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty since 2015 and had been complying with requirements as part of its obligations.
He said a change of course by Iran followed a decision by the first Trump administration to rip up an earlier deal over the future of its nuclear program in 2018 that it changed:
I think it’s also important with all this talk about the Iranian nuclear weapon, which should, of course, be discussed. We often forget Iran is not a nuclear power. It is a nuclear threshold state. There is only one nuclear power in the Middle East, and that is Israel. And Israel is fighting this war very much to maintain its monopoly on the possession of these weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.
Rabbani said striking the Iranian nuclear program was not enough to end the program as the knowledge of how to construct the weapon remained. He added that the attacks were likely to create internal pressure within Iran for the regime to acquire nuclear weapons to defend itself.
On the prospect of Iranian retaliation, Rabbani said there were more questions than answers:
One thing that has distinguished the Iranians over the years is that they tend to act strategically rather than impulsively.
Updated
Trump to address the nation
The US president, Donald Trump, will address Americans after his decision to enter Israel’s war with Iran by striking three nuclear sites in the country overnight.
For the blow-by-blow, follow the Guardian’s Israel-Iran war live blog:
Updated
Iran could retaliate by disrupting oil supplies, analyst says
The Iranian response to US strikes on its nuclear facilities will depend on whether the attacks were as successful as Trump claims, an analyst says.
Speaking to ABC news, analyst Mouin Rabbani said what happens next will depend on whether Iran directs its anger at Israel, or the US. The scale of the damage, he said, may create an incentive for Iran to close the strait of Hormuz and seek to block the Bab Al-Mandab to disrupt global oil and gas supplies:
Yes, Iran would be shooting itself in the foot. And yes, arguably the main immediate victim would be China, which is a main importer of Gulf energy. But the Iranians, looking at the virtual civil war within the US Republican party, may conclude that sending gas prices at the pump in the United States at the height of the summer holidays would be the most appropriate response.
They could also, you know, decide to begin systematically hitting US facilities throughout the Middle East, either directly or in coordination with their coalition partners in the so-called Axis of Resistance.
Rabbani said, in the context of an escalation by Israel and a direct strike on its facilities by the US, he would be “extraordinarily surprised” if Iran were to respond to the attack on its nuclear facilities by re-entering negotiations:
I think one thing we can exclude is seeing American and Iranian diplomats sitting around the negotiating table later this week.
• This post was edited at 2.50pm AEST to remove an incorrect reference to the strait of Hormuz being in the Red Sea.
Updated
US bombing of Iran a 'blatant breach of international law', Greens leader says
The US bombing of Iran represents a “fundamental threat to world peace” and Australia must distance itself from the attack, leader of the Greens Larissa Waters said.
In a statement published today, Waters said Australia could not allow itself to be dragged into “another brutal US war in the Middle East” and said the US strikes were a “blatant breach of international law”.
Waters said the escalation was a “terrifying and catastrophic escalation by the USA, and Australia must condemn it”:
From Iraq to Afghanistan, we have seen Australia follow the US into devastating and brutal wars that have done untold damage to the people of the Middle East. We know that you cannot bomb your way to peace.
Australia must always work for peace and de-escalation. Australia is not powerless, and we cannot be involved in another brutal war in the Middle East.
Australia must take this opportunity to get out of Aukus, have an independent foreign policy that centres peace, and must not allow the use of Australian US military bases like Pine Gap in this conflict.
Only when countries like Australia push back and hold to principles and international law and back them up with material actions, will there be a chance for peace.
Senator David Shoebridge, the Greens spokesperson on defence and foreign affairs, said the world was “at a crossroads” and “the Albanese government must choose to be a force for peace not for war”:
With US president Trump’s bombing of Iran showing clearly that he is no friend of peace, and the Albanese government must distance Australia from these actions.
Updated
'Virtually impossible' to argue US strikes legal under international law, expert says
The international law expert Donald Rothwell said it was “virtually impossible” to mount a case that the US’s reported strikes on Iranian nuclear sites were legal under international law.
Under article 51 of the UN charter, states are allowed to use force to defend themselves from an armed attack.
International law experts argue the charter does not provide a broader right to pre-emptive attacks, such as the strikes Israel launched on Iran on 13 June on the grounds of eliminating Tehran’s nuclear threat.
Rothwell, a professor at the Australian National University, said given there had been no direct threat from Iran towards the US then Trump’s reported attack could not be justified.
He told Guardian Australia:
It’s virtually impossible, I think, for the United States to mount any credible legal argument [for the strikes] on that basis.
Rothwell said the US attacks could set a precedent for how other countries could use the self-defence argument as cover for pre-emptive attacks:
The really concerning aspect of this is the precedent it sets. If the United States can do this, and this is a precedent that the United States is taking in terms of its interpretation of self-defence, or the way in which you can use force, then other states will take that into account in terms of how they consider their own future conduct.
Updated
Deputy PM won’t be drawn on Iran’s nuclear capabilities
Speaking to Sky News earlier, the defence minister, Richard Marles, was asked about reports the US has pre-positioned B -2 bombers as Donald Trump weighs up whether to launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The deputy prime minister was asked if such an attack would be justified.
Marles responded:
I’m not about to speculate on what the United States does. The position that we have articulated in relation to this conflict has been consistent from the outset, and that is that we are worried about the prospect for escalation.
We continue to do that, saying that we obviously recognise Israel’s right to defend itself, we very much acknowledge the risk that the Iranian ballistic missile program represents.
That two-part response – calling for de-escalation while referencing Israel’s right to defend itself – is the standard line that Marles and other senior ministers have used when asked about the conflict in recent days.
While Marles referenced the threat of Iran’s nuclear ballistic program, he refused to be drawn on whether he thinks Tehran is actually close to having a nuclear weapon:
I’m not about to speculate on that, other than to say what I already have, and that is that the Iranian nuclear ballistic missile program is most definitely a threat to peace and stability of not only the Middle East, but the world.
Updated
Iran situation still unclear
The situation surrounding the US strikes on Iran is unclear, making it difficult to understand what has taken place, retired US army officer John Spencer says.
Speaking with the ABC on Sunday morning, the analyst with the Urban Warfare Institute says the number of bombs dropped are unknown, as are the specific targets. For example, he said, Fordow is not one site but “multiple sites”.
Spencer added that the goal of the US, for now, was not regime change but about achieving political objectives:
It looks like the United States said ‘we can help Israel speed to this along, and achieve limited objectives’. And I have some disagreements in comparing this to either the first Gulf war or the invasion of Iraq, this is about setting back Iran’s nuclear program and enforcing a political agreement, much like what was done in Iraq in the 1980s.
We will bring you the latest as Australia responds to this development. For more on these unfolding events, head over to the Guardian’s Israel-Iran war live blog:
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Trump hails ‘historic moment’
Donald Trump has announced he will address the US public at 10pm in Washington DC, which is midday on Australia’s east coast.
In a statement to social media, Trump said:
I will be giving an Address to the Nation at 10:00 P.M., at the White House, regarding our very successful military operation in Iran. This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!
For more on these unfolding events, head over to the Guardian’s Israel-Iran war live blog:
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From a rectal kit to a Berlin Wall-era transmitter: the artefacts of Australia’s spy museum which doesn’t exist – yet
Every morning Mike Pritchard eats breakfast next to a Stasi surveillance rack. The machine, sitting on a couple of milk crates near his dining room table, is composed of colour-coded buttons, switches and dials. It contains a surveillance receiver, a controller for up to 10 receivers, a reel-to-reel tape recorder, and a numbers-station broadcast box:
The equipment in this rack can be seen in the German film The Lives of Others. It’s absolutely been used. They used this stuff every day. Remember, this was a police state – they are using this stuff to listen to everybody. This is not a once-a-month thing, it’s your day job.
The artefact is not the only piece of espionage history in his home. He has spy cameras once favoured by intelligences services such as the CIA and KGB and a field radio used in the second world war by US women parachuted in behind enemy lines.
The really interesting things he keeps off-site in a facility that is packed to the brim – including cipher devices used by the French intelligence services during the Algerian civil war and in Indochina that were once uncrackable; several working enigma machines; a briefcase built to conceal a compact automatic firearm; a bra built to conceal a hidden camera; a rubber stamp from a Berlin Wall checkpoint; and a nameless device built to detect invisible writing:
The truth is, I think I am a complete nerd.
For more on this story, read the full feature below:
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US strikes three nuclear sites in Iran
Donald Trump has announced that the US has carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities.
In a post to social media website, TruthSocial, the US president said a “very successful attack” had been carried out on three nuclear sites in Iran: Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan:
We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
The news comes after the US moved B-2 stealth bombers to airbases in Guam and despite statements by Trump that he would give Iran two weeks to negotiate before he decided whether the US would join the conflict.
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‘We should be responsive to the situation’
Hastie also flagged a break from the party line under previous Coalition leader Peter Dutton, saying Australia should be willing to serve as part of a peacekeeping force in Ukraine saying, “my personal view is we should have left it open”:
My view is that we should consider an offer and respond to one. That would be a decision taken by the prime minister and the national security committee. That’s something that you would do at the time. I don’t think we should be ruling in or out troops to Ukraine. I want to be clear. It would be a very specialised deployment. We have special operations for a reason. A small element. I don’t think it’s wise to rule in or out Australian troops, particularly for peace-keeping or peace-monitoring roles.
Hastie criticised the prime minister for agreeing to take part, and the former Coalition leader for refusing to participate without waiting to “consider the merits of the request at the time”:
That is still my position. Australian state-craft, we should be responsive to the situation and not wedded to a position through ideology or through preconceived notions of what things could look like.
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‘We’re not just a vassal state’
Hastie says he would be reluctant to commit Australian troops to any conflict with Iran that the US elects to join, but said any decision about logistical support would be “a decision for the government”.
Asked about Australia’s relationship to the US, Hastie said “we have to have a more discussion about our relationship with the US”:
We need greater transparency. Secretary Hegseth appeared before the arms committee this week, last week, he talked about the Indo-Pacific and named communist China as the Pacific threat – his words and he talked about the US building up its forward posture in the Indo-Pacific. He spoke specifically of Australia, Japan and the Philippines. We’re very much part of the integrated deterrence that the US is building in the region.
Hastie said the Australian government needs to be “clear” with the public about “what that means”:
We need greater transparency, to talk about operationalising the alliance, building guardrails for combat operations and defining our sovereignty. This will make things clearer for us, so we can better preserve our national interests. We’re not just a vassal state, we’re an ally, partner and it’s time we had a discussion about what that looks like.
Hastie said this included efforts to ensure US military operations would only be operated from bases in Australia if Australia gave them the green-light.
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Hastie: if Iran has a nuclear weapon, ‘they will us it’
Hastie says that if US elects to join Israel in striking Iran, it will create an incentive for Iran to rapidly develop its military nuclear program:
One thing is clear. If you are Iran and you survive this conflict with your regime intact and a nuclear program intact, I think you will move at best speed to build a bomb, to put yourself in the strongest position the, in time this happens.
Hastie said reiterated a point he had made at other times in the interview, saying Iran cannot have a weapon.
They will use it.
The shadow home affairs minister said he agreed with the government’s approach of urging Iran to come back to the table and negotiate.
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‘Be careful what you wish for’
Hastie says an Israeli commando attack on Iranian nuclear facilities was unlikely as it was “very complex” and could not be undertaken “without a lot of operational risk”, saying it would be a “one-way ticket” for any Israeli forces:
It would be difficult to generate surprise when you are inserting a ground element, particularly to somewhere like Fordow [nuclear site] where the Iranians would expect the Israelis to come. Then speed. It would be difficult to overcome security there, to breach the facility and then to sabotage or destroy the nuclear component and then fight your way back out for extraction. I think for a number of reasons it will be a one-way ticket for the Israeli special forces.
There would be expectation of casualties, capture and therefore, I think, unlikely.
Hastie previously served as a commander of an Australian SAS regiment who served in Afghanistan. Asked about whether this experience gave him any thoughts on the current moment in the Middle East, he said “it is dangerous and risky”:
We could see regime change a collapse of the Iranian regime, large-scale migration and refugees across the world, but particularly Europe. We don’t know who would fill the power vacuum.
If there is one lesson I take out of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, be careful what you wish for. Sometimes it’s better the devil you know, particularly for stability. Once the structures of order, as bad as they might be under a tyranny of a regime like in Iran, then it’s chaos and it’s danger for the people and for Iran.
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‘Iran fired missiles at Israel last year’
Asked whether Israel’s actions in striking Iran adhere to international law, Andrew Hastie says Israel has been “at war since October 7 with Iran’s proxies in Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis”:
Let’s not forget Iran fired missiles at Israel last year. If they had a nuclear weapon I suspect they would probably fire that at Israel. We are at the point where the Board of Governors of the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] on June 12 passed a resolution condemning Iran for having this 60% enriched uranium and that they are in breach of their non-proliferation treaty. This is where we are at. You can understand, I think, why Israel has taken this action.
Iranian strikes against Israel took place after targeted attacks by the Israeli military, including the assassination of senior Iranian military officials.
When pressed on whether Israeli is acting in compliance with international law, Hastie said he could not comment:
I’m not an international lawyer. I couldn’t comment. I’m looking at the facts in front of me. And I’m sure prime minister Netanyahu weighed up his options and decided to take the course. People can judge for themselves. We are in this situation, have to deal with the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.
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‘Diplomacy will probably fail’ in Iran-Israel conflict, Hastie says
Diplomacy is “probably” going to fail and the US will probably strike Iran, the shadow home affairs minister, Andrew Hastie, says.
Speaking with ABC Insiders host David Speers, Hastie was asked repeatedly whether the Coalition would support the US striking Iran and its nuclear facilities.
Hastie said the world was at a fork in the road where diplomacy could short-circuit an escalation in Israel’s war on Iran by drawing the US into the conflict:
There is potentially a settlement through diplomatic means where Iran surrendered the program and subjects it to water-tight inspections by the atomic agency or settlement by force, where the nuclear facilities are destroyed by the Israels and the US, potentially with a strike from a B-2 bunker-busting bomb. That is where we are headed. Hopefully we can get to a point where Iran willingly submits to those conditions. I doubt it. My fear is this escalates further.
Hastie said there was some “open-source intelligence” about the Iranian nuclear program which suggests it remains a threat, adding “Iran is a deeply ideological regime, committed to the destruction of Israel”:
I suspect diplomacy will probably fail and we will see a strike of some sort. The next two weeks, it will be tough for innocent people caught in the war.
US intelligence agencies says Iran has not yet decided to construct a nuclear weapon. There have been consistent claims that Iran was months or weeks away from building a nuclear bomb for the last decade.
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‘I’m sure the meeting will happen,’ Marles says of Alabanese-Trump face-to-face
With the prospect of a potential meeting with Trump at Nato ruled out, it’s unclear when Albanese will secure a sit-down with the US president.
Marles was confident the meeting would occur soon:
I’m sure the meeting will happen in the not too distant future. But I’ll remind you that almost immediately [after Trump’s election win], the prime minister is speaking with the president by phone. He’s had a number of phone calls, beginning the process of establishing a rapport between the two of them, and we continue, at ministerial-level, on an official level, to have more constant contact with the United States.
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Marles to attend Nato summit
Richard Marles will represent Australia at next week’s Nato summit after Anthony Albanese decided against travelling to The Hague in the hope of securing an elusive face-to-face-meeting with Donald Trump.
Albanese’s scheduled meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit was abruptly cancelled after the US president rushed back to Washington to deal with the Middle East crisis.
Trump reportedly called other world leaders with whom he cancelled meetings – but that list apparently didn’t include Albanese.
Marles denies Australia has a “problem”, with Albanese still yet to secure in-person talks with Trump since his return to the White House in January.
He replied “no, we don’t”, saying Trump’s decision to leave the G7 was understandable given the escalation in the Middle East conflict.
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Interviews ahead
The shadow home affairs minister, Andrew Hastie, will speak to ABC Insiders host David Speers this morning.
Defence minister Richard Marles has spoken to Sky News about the government’s efforts to evacuate Australians from Iran and Liberal MP Dan Tehan is also doing the rounds on Sky.
We will bring you all the latest as it happens.
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Nearly 4,000 Australians trying to evacuate Iran, Marles says
The defence minister, Richard Marles, is up on Sky News in the first of the Sunday morning political interviews.
Marles has provided an update on the number of Australians attempting to leave Iran and Israel amid the latest conflict between the two nations.
As of Sunday morning, he said there were 3800 Australian citizens – 2600 in Iran and 1200 in Israel – seeking government assistance to evacuate the countries.
Marles said the government had a civilian charter plane on standby but it couldn’t yet depart because the airspace over Iran and Israel remains closed.
So we really are poised to provide whatever assistance we can in the event that airspace opens.
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Good morning
Welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, says nearly 4,000 Australians have applied for government assistance to leave Israel and Iran. Marles said the Australian government had a charter plan on standby to assist in an evacuation but it could not depart as the sky over Iran remains closed.
New South Wales police have found the body of an 81-year-old man in the Moruya area after midnight on Saturday. Police found the body in a white ute after a search of the area but are not treating the death as suspicious at this stage.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started …
