Canadian PM backs Iran strikes ‘with regret’ during Australia visit

Canadian Prime Minister Carney has backed US-Israeli strikes on Iran while in Australia for a state visit but admitted it was a position his government took “with regret”.

The US and Israel launched a military offensive to topple the Iranian government after it claimed negotiations to pressure Tehran into abandoning its nuclear program – as well as its ballistic missile program and support for regional proxies – failed.

Iran retaliated by bombing Israel and a number of American military bases in Gulf countries like Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait, dragging the region into a spiralling conflict.

Critics, including legal experts, have deemed the US-Israeli attack on Iran illegal under international law, but Western nations, including Australia, have backed the US for eliminating Iran’s autocratic leader and claimed it is up to the Americans and Israelis to justify their actions.

Amid the conflict, Mr Carney arrived in Sydney on Tuesday for a wide-reaching state visit during which he is expected to canvass Australian-Canadian co-operation on defence, intelligence sharing, and critical minerals.

Addressing the media, Mr Carney said the North American nation was “taking the world as it is, not passively waiting for a world we wish to be”.

The Liberal Prime Minister said he supported efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and preventing the regime “from further threatening international peace and security”.

“We take this position with regret because the current conflict is another example of the failure of the international order,” he said.

“Despite decades of United Nations Security Council resolutions, the tireless work of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and a succession of sanctions and diplomatic frameworks, Iran’s nuclear threat remains.

“And now the United States and Israel have acted without engaging the United Nations or consulting with allies, including Canada.”

Australian officials have confirmed the Albanese government was not informed ahead of time about the strikes.

Mr Carney lashed the Iranian regime for having “murdered hundreds of Canadian civilians” and condemned Iran’s retaliatory strikes on the Gulf.

He said Canada had long supported “the imperative of neutralising this grave global threat”.

Asked about Mr Carney’s comments, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said the Canadian Prime Minister “said it is for others to judge” on questions about the war’s legality.

“I have made clear that this is a matter for Israel and the US – the legal basis – for those two countries to respond to,” she said.

‘New stage of history’

Donald Trump’s aggressive use of military force as a tool of diplomacy has reshaped the global order and marked the start of a “new stage of history”, opposition industry and sovereign capability spokesman Andrew Hastie says as the world grapples with the geopolitical implications of the attack on Iran.

The aftermath has raised questions about the post-World War II rules-based order that once governed geopolitics, including the promotion of peaceful conflict resolution.

This week, Mr Hastie declared the international framework dead, a sentiment he doubled down on when interviewed by the ABC on Wednesday.

“Look, I think we’re in a new stage of history. After World War II, it was the United States who built the international order, the international institutions,” he said.

“That’s why the United Nations is headquartered in New York. And I think that construct is defunct in a sense.

“We’ve got a different president who is mercantilist when it comes to his sort of economics. I think he’s an apex opportunist.”

Aside from the war on Iran, this was exemplified by Mr Trump’s recent military campaigns both Venezuela and Nigeria, Mr Hastie said, as well as the rise of autocracies like China.

In January, the US bombed Venezuelan capital Caracas after claiming the country’s president Nicolas Maduro had flooded America with drugs.

Mr Maduro was abducted during the attack and now faces trial on drug trafficking charges in the US.

It came weeks after Mr Trump launched Christmas Day strikes in Nigeria’s northern Sokoto state which he claimed were targeting ISIS militants and marked a significant escalation of US military operations in Africa.

Mr Hastie said it was crucial for Australia to become more self-sufficient, particularly when it comes to industrial and military power, in light of the evolving world order.

But later, Foreign Minister Penny Wong dodged questions around the relationship between great nations and middle powers, including whether Australia had to get used to geopolitical reality of powerful countries like the US acting without restraint.

When asked, Senator Wong told the ABC: “What I’ve said is Iran represents a regime that has engaged in terrorism over many decades and including recently a country that has engaged in terrorism and has not complied with international resolutions, including of the Security Council in relation to its nuclear program.”

“So, we have said we support action that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear capability and prevents Iran from continuing to act beyond its borders.

“Let’s not forget Iran participated in organising an attack on Australian soil against Australians.”