{"id":613435,"date":"2026-04-17T18:21:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T18:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/613435\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T18:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T18:21:13","slug":"albanese-joins-meeting-of-leaders-to-talk-about-reopening-the-strait-of-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/613435\/","title":{"rendered":"Albanese joins meeting of leaders to talk about reopening the Strait of Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined a virtual meeting of world leaders tonight to discuss how to secure the Strait of Hormuz, once conflict in the region has ended.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">About 40 leaders attended the summit, chaired jointly by the United Kingdom and France.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\"><a class=\"Link_link__kR0xA Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-04-17\/iran-war-live-updates-trump-lebanon-israel-ceasefire\/106574286\" data-component=\"Link\" data-uri=\"coremedia:\/\/article\/106574286\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Iran war live updates:<\/a> For the latest news on the Middle East crisis, read our blog<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The United States did not attend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">At the summit, Mr Albanese was expected to highlight the need for de-escalation, the rapid resumption of negotiations and a swift resolution to the conflict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Before the meeting the prime minister stressed the need for coordinated international diplomacy and said the conflict had far-reaching consequences.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Australia and our Indo-Pacific partners are experiencing first-hand the impact of unprecedented disruptions to energy supply chains and impact on oil and fuel prices,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Here, in Australia, we are working around the clock to shield Australians from the worst of the impacts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Australia is calling for the Strait of Hormuz to be fully reopened for all countries.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">US President Donald Trump has criticised allies for not joining the US blockade of Iran, which is aimed at allowing non-Iranian shipping through the vital trade route.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-04-17\/trump-repeats-he-is-not-happy-with-australia-hormuz-crisis\/106574622\" data-component=\"FullBleedLink\" class=\"RelatedCard_link__rsgR9 FullBleedLink_root__lTw_U interactive_focusContext__yRhc_ interactive_defaults__AKxUU FullBleedLink_showVisited__g3Xvz\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Trump repeats he is &#8216;not happy with Australia&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP RelatedCard_synopsis__cFwMW Typography_sizeMobile14__u7TGe Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Donald Trump again accuses Australia of refusing to help the US in the Strait of Hormuz, but the Australian government maintains there has been no formal request from the US.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Mr Trump also said this morning he was &#8220;not happy&#8221; with Australia because it was &#8220;not there&#8221; in helping in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">But both the UK and France have already ruled out joining the blockade, arguing doing so would mean joining the conflict with Iran.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Instead, both countries have pointed to these multi-national talks about how the strait can be secured once the war is over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Earlier this week, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy indicated Australia would also not join the blockade if asked by the US.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Our position is that we are not party to this conflict, and we&#8217;ve got no intention to change that position,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Reuters has reported China has been invited to join the summit, but it was not clear if the invitation had been taken up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Australia already has an E-7 Wedgetail surveillance aircraft deployed to the region, providing defensive support to the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Ahead of the meeting, Foreign Minister Penny Wong was asked what more Australia might be willing to provide to secure the strait, but only after the conflict ended.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;We&#8217;ve made clear we want to be part of efforts, particularly diplomatic efforts, to ensure the Strait of Hormuz is open, that freedom of navigation occurs,&#8221; she told the ABC&#8217;s Afternoon Briefing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Obviously, there is a process of negotiation now between the United States and Iran.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;I think the focus of these discussions is really what happens next.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">She said a diplomatic solution to keeping the strait open would be significantly better than a military solution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;It is very challenging to secure the strait militarily,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Which is why diplomatic efforts, multilateral efforts, to get agreement for the strait to be open and to operate in accordance with international law are so important.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Two men sit at desk in front of a row of flags.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776450073_769_5917003de2866b5d6989a504b112c016.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Over the past week Anthony Albanese has met with the leaders of Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia to shore up energy supply chains.\u00a0 (AAP: Bianca De Marchi)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The talks tonight follow a series of meetings between the prime minister and regional leaders in recent days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Over the past week, Mr Albanese has met with heads of state in Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia, <a class=\"Link_link__kR0xA Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-04-16\/new-powers-used-to-secure-additional-diesel-shipments\/106571682\" data-component=\"Link\" data-uri=\"coremedia:\/\/article\/106571682\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">to lock in fuel supplies and for talks on maintaining energy supply chains<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\"><a class=\"Link_link__kR0xA Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-04-17\/refinery-blaze-national-fuel-plan\/106544826\" data-component=\"Link\" data-uri=\"coremedia:\/\/article\/106544826\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">But he fast-tracked his return from Malaysia following a major fire at Victoria&#8217;s Viva Energy oil refinery, landing in Geelong this morning for talks with the plant&#8217;s operators<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">As a result of the blaze, <a class=\"Link_link__kR0xA Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-04-17\/refinery-blaze-national-fuel-plan\/106544826\" data-component=\"Link\" data-uri=\"coremedia:\/\/article\/106544826\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">petrol production has dropped to 60 per cent of capacity<\/a> and safety precautions meant diesel and jet fuel production were reduced to 80 per cent of normal levels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Mr Albanese said the government would work with the company to restore operations at the refinery, which is one of two remaining in Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;It has slowed down just slightly because of the circumstances that are there,&#8221; Mr Albanese told reporters outside the facility.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;We hope, of course, as does the company, that that ramps up over the coming period.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">He said the damage was not significant enough to trigger an escalation to the next stage of the government&#8217;s national fuel security plan.<\/p>\n<p>Loading&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined a virtual meeting of world leaders tonight to discuss how to secure&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2324,2592,98767,43,297838,44,64234,143126,41,39,42,40,5429,1055],"class_list":{"0":"post-613435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-anthony-albanese","9":"tag-france","10":"tag-fuel-crisis","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-leaders-meeting","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-shipping","15":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613435","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=613435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}