{"id":511673,"date":"2026-03-01T11:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T11:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/511673\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T11:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T11:31:07","slug":"supporting-illegal-aggression-against-iran-the-worst-thing-australia-could-do-international-law-experts-say-australian-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/511673\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting \u2018illegal aggression\u2019 against Iran \u2018the worst thing\u2019 Australia could do, international law experts say | Australian foreign policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

International law experts have criticised Australia for \u201crolling over\u201d and backing what they say is an illegal attack by Israel<\/a> and the US on Iran.<\/p>\n

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong<\/a>, endorsed the fresh war by stating that \u201cAustralia supports action to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent Iran from continuing to threaten international peace and security\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wong and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, also cited attacks in Melbourne and Sydney in 2024<\/a> orchestrated by Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, when they endorsed the bombing raids ordered by Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Australia expelled Iran\u2019s ambassador<\/a> and designated the IRCG a state sponsor of terrorism over the 2024 antisemitic attacks that included the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But University of Sydney professor and United Nations special rapporteur Ben Saul said that justification was flawed.<\/p>\n

The attack on Iran<\/a> was \u201cclearly a violation of the ban on the use of force under the UN charter and international law, which is the linchpin of the international order since 1945,\u201d he told Guardian Australia on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDomestic criminal acts like the IRGC\u2019s interference here, of course, are not armed attacks which would somehow justify military self-defence against Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may not like Iran, you may not like what it does, but that doesn\u2019t justify an aggressive armed attack on Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saul said countries like Australia and Canada should be pushing the US to respect international law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to stop a superpower, but if middle powers and other coalitions of states raise the political price on the United States by objecting strenuously every time they break the law, it does make it a lot harder for the US to get away with it in future cases.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen countries like Australia roll over and support this kind of illegal aggression, that\u2019s the worst thing, in terms of contributing to the erosion of international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, said the weekend attack on Iran was not justified based on publicly available information.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no basis under the UN charter with respect to the exercise of the right of self-defence, nor is there any UN security council resolution authorising any use of force for an intervention in Iran,\u201d he said on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can understand why the government is being cautious on these matters at the moment, just 24 hours after the event. But in due course, Australia will need to give a clearer statement of its views.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wong on Sunday said: \u201cI will leave it for the United States and Israel<\/a> to speak of the legal basis for the attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I would say to Australians is that Iran<\/a> has been a destabilising force in the region for decades. It has orchestrated attacks on Australia, and I think we all understand this issue did not start yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Greens\u2019 foreign affairs spokesperson, David Shoebridge, accused the Albanese government of outsourcing Australian foreign policy<\/a> to Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabor has made Australia a part of this war by allowing Pine Gap and other US military bases here<\/a> to be used to gather intelligence and target US bombs and missiles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople see through Labor when it says it believes in international law and then repeatedly backs the US and its illegal wars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wong on Sunday wouldn\u2019t be drawn on the involvement of Pine Gap in the Northern Territory, stating: \u201cWe never comment on that facility as a general proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked on Sunday if the attack was legal and whether it could further erode the rules-based order, Albanese said the questions were for the US and those involved directly in the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I would say is that the threat to international peace and security of the Iranian regime is real. The fact that they orchestrated attacks here in Australia on the other side of the world underlines the threat that this regime presented to the rule of law and to international norms of behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albanese said Australia had \u201clong recognised\u201d that Iran\u2019s nuclear program and the development of ballistic missiles were a threat to global peace and security.<\/p>\n

The Australian government made similar comments when backing Trump\u2019s June 2025 bombing of Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities during the 12-day war.<\/p>\n

At the time, Trump said the US had successfully struck three nuclear sites in Iran<\/a>, and key enrichment facilities were \u201ctotally and completely obliterated\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Members of the Labor Against War group on Sunday lashed the federal government<\/a> for supporting Netanyahu and Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlbanese\u2019s backing of Israeli and US attacks on Iran shows that we are completely devoid of acting independently,\u201d patron Doug Cameron said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a time when Labor pursued peace not war. That time is long gone. Leadership needed, not sycophantic capitulation to militarism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wong on Sunday said Australia wanted the resumption of dialogue and diplomacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe join our partners in calling on all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law,\u201d the foreign minister said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"International law experts have criticised Australia for \u201crolling over\u201d and backing what they say is an illegal attack…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-511673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}