Australia’s PM gambles that quick support for Iran strike will prove the right strategy

SYDNEY – Within hours of the

first strike hitting Iran

on the morning of Feb 28, Australia became one of the first countries to firmly back the United States-Israel action.

Though other Western leaders, such as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, were initially cautious, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was quick to endorse the US-Israeli attack on Iran’s military and security apparatus, and backed efforts to topple the Iranian regime.

As a staunch US ally that typically supports Washington in foreign conflicts, Australia’s backing of the strike was not surprising.

But Mr Albanese also signalled more immediate reasons for doing so, including Australian intelligence that found Iran organised two attacks on Jewish sites in Australia in 2024, including the firebombing of a synagogue in Melbourne.

Iran’s involvement in the attacks prompted

Australia to expel the country’s ambassador

in August 2025 – the first expulsion of an ambassador by Canberra since World War II – and to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a state sponsor of terrorism.

“This is a regime which has engaged in international terrorism support, including of course here in Australia with at least two anti-Semitic attacks, including the financing and promotion of the attack on the Adass synagogue in Melbourne,” Mr Albanese told ABC News on March 2.

Though Mr Albanese has

ruled out participating in the campaign in Iran

and noted that he did not have advance notice of the strike, he said he hoped the conflict would bring an end to the “ugly” regime in Tehran that had killed and jailed its citizens.

Mr Albanese also noted the concerns of the 85,000-member Iranian community in Australia, which has tended to be vocally opposed to the rule of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the attack on Tehran on Feb 28.

Thousands of Iranian Australians attended rallies across Australia on March 1 to support the US and Israeli air strike and express joy at the death of Mr Khamenei.

One participant in Brisbane, Ms Melika Jahanian, told Queensland’s Courier Mail newspaper that she and other members of the diaspora wanted to celebrate “the first day in the world as a Khamenei-less world”.

“Every Iranian person around the world has had a family member either affected by this or killed by this regime,” she said.

In New Zealand, a US ally that tends to be less unequivocal in its support of Washington than Australia, the ruling centre-right National Party also backed the campaign in Iran.

In an initial statement, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon appeared to be more cautious than Canberra, saying he “acknowledges” the strike in Iran. But he later said his position mirrored that of Australia, telling reporters on March 2 he would support “any actions” that would stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

US President Donald Trump has said the strike was aimed at ending a decades-long threat from Iran and ensuring it could not develop a nuclear weapon.

Australia’s staunch support for the strike came despite legal experts saying the attack was in breach of international law, particularly as it was not authorised by the United Nations Security Council.

Mr Albanese’s Labor party tends to pride itself as a firm supporter of international law and opposed the decision by then Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a Liberal party MP, to deploy troops to support the US-led war in Iraq in 2003.

But Canberra has largely skirted the question of the legality of the current US and Israeli campaign.

Asked about the issue on March 2, Mr Albanese told ABC News that the legal basis of the strike was a matter for the US.

“We don’t have access to the intelligence that the United States and Israel had prior to the launch of these attacks,” he said.

Mr Albanese’s decision to back the strike was also motivated by his commitment to the longstanding military alliance with the US and his wariness of risking an open disagreement with Mr Trump.

Canberra has been strengthening its military ties with Washington, including plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines from the US as part of the three-way AUKUS security pact between Australia, the US and Britain.

Mr Albanese, a seasoned politician who has been an MP for 30 years, would also have been aware that opposing the US strikes would have left him open to attack from the Opposition – the centre-right Liberal-National Coalition, which has firmly supported the campaign.

The Opposition leader, Mr Angus Taylor, said on social media that Iran’s regime was “authoritarian, anti-Semitic and abhorrent”, praising the US and Israel for giving Iranians an opportunity to be free.

The Opposition has attacked Mr Albanese for failing to do enough to secure the safety of 115,000 Australians stranded in the Middle East following the attack. The closure of airspace, including the cancellation of flights to and from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Israel and Bahrain, has left the Australians unable to leave.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the quickest way to evacuate the Australians was to support their access to commercial flights if and when they were available. But the Coalition said the government should have done more to advise Australians of the need to leave in recent days and weeks as the prospect of a conflict increased.

Mr Albanese has often been criticised for a lack of resolve and conviction, including his response to the deadly Bondi terror attack targeting Jews in December 2025. Now, he clearly judged that he had little to lose from taking a firm position on the campaign in Iran.

But, as with all wars, the political fallout will ultimately be decided by how the conflict unfolds in Iran, which will hinge on events that are well beyond his control.