Anthony Albanese has confirmed that three Australians were on a US submarine that sank an Iranian warship, after the Labor government earlier refused to comment on reports that emerged on Thursday.
The prime minister said the Australian defence force personnel were on the submarine as part of an Aukus training program.
But he maintained that Australian forces were in compliance with international law, and said: “No Australian personnel have participated in any offensive action against Iran.”
Asked about implications for international law in the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, Albanese said Australia was “comfortable” with assessing that Tehran posed a threat on three levels.
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“We wouldn’t normally confirm such an issue, but given our NSC [national security committee of cabinet] meetings, in the public interest, I can confirm that there were three Australian personnel onboard that vessel,” Albanese told Sky News Australia on Friday.
“I can confirm also, though, that no Australian personnel have participated in any offensive action against Iran. These are longstanding third-country arrangements that have been in place for a long period of time. And what they do is ensure that Australian defence force personnel, where they’re embedded in third countries’ defence assets, they act in accordance with Australian law, with Australian policy.”
The Australian government previously refused to disclose whether Australian sailors or officers were onboard the US attack submarine that torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, killing at least 87 people.
On Friday morning senior ministers initially refused to confirm those details, saying the government had a policy of not commenting on the location of ADF personnel.
Albanese said the three Australians onboard the submarine were there as part of the Aukus defence pact training program.
“It’s one of the big pluses behind the Aukus arrangements, Australian personnel getting experience across a range of assets, including being onboard nuclear-powered submarines, but also the exchange that’s occurring across the board.”
More than 50 Australian sailors and officers are serving across the US attack submarine fleet, a training regimen that is part of preparations for Australia to command its own nuclear-powered submarines under the Aukus deal.
According to the Royal Australian Navy, one in 10 crew members onboard US Navy attack submarines is Australian.
The US submarine strike on the Islamic Republic of Iran Ship (Iris) Dena was the first time an enemy vessel has been sunk by an American torpedo since the second world war, the US secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, told a Pentagon briefing.
“An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. It was sunk by a torpedo, a quiet death.”
Hegseth has promised “sheer destruction” for the Iranian regime.
“America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy … they are toast and they know it,” he said.
The Pentagon has not identified which submarine was involved in the attack on Wednesday but defence trade press reported the submarine that launched the torpedo was the USS Minnesota, a Virginia-class submarine that rotated through the HMAS Stirling base in Western Australia last year.
Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, described the US attack as an “atrocity at sea, 2000 miles from Iran’s shores”.
“Mark my words: the US will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set.”
At least 87 Iranian sailors were killed in the attack on the Iris Dena on Wednesday. Thirty-two were pulled from the water by the Sri Lankan navy. Up to 180 personnel were believed on board.
The frigate was sailing in international waters as it returned from a naval exercise organised by India in the Bay of Bengal.
A Pentagon video purporting to have captured the attack shows the warship being hit by a massive explosion, blowing apart the stern of the vessel and lifting it from the water before it begins sinking.
The frigate was outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters but still within its economic zone, 44 nautical miles (81km) off Galle.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
