Labour leader Chris Hipkins believes the strikes were illegal.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he does not support the United States and Israel’s strikes on Iran.
He disagrees with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s stance that it wasn’t New Zealand’s place to comment on the legality of the strikes.
Iran and Israel have continued to trade strikes since joint US and Iran airstrikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
US President Donald Trump has warned that bigger strikes are to come, and says the conflict could drag out longer than the four to five weeks he initially planned.
New Zealanders in Iran are urged to leave if it is safe to do so, and register on SafeTravel.
Hipkins said he believed the strikes were illegal.
“I think New Zealand Government seems to be moving away from what has been a long-standing and principled approach to these issues,” he told Morning Report.
“We have been very clear that we think international law matters, and that all parties to these sorts of conflicts should follow international law. That’s not the case here.”
He said it is important that our government speaks with authority and in favour of international law.
“New Zealand’s government should stand up for the international system of rules that we rely on for our own security as a country,” Hipkins said.
“If the situation becomes that the countries with the most power can do whatever they like regardless of what international law says, that’s very bad news for a small country like New Zealand.”
Luxon has previously said it would be up to the US and Israel to explain the legal basis for their attacks.
“Issues of legality [are] for Israel and the US to talk to because we’re not party to that information or that intelligence they may have,” he said.
Luxon went on to say it wasn’t guaranteed New Zealand would ever see this intelligence – and his government would not be asking to see it.
“We’ve had a long-standing commitment under successive governments that any actions that stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is a good thing, any actions that take to stop them from sponsoring terrorism is a good thing, any actions that stops them from killing their own people is a good thing,” he said.
“This is not a good regime and that has been a long-standing position of New Zealand governments under different administrations.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was pressed on the government’s position on the latest conflict in the Middle East in his weekly post-Cabinet media conference on Monday.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Hipkins said he had been taken aback by Luxon’s language around New Zealand supporting any actions to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
“I was somewhat shocked to see that comment… that does not reflect the position that successive New Zealand governments have taken,” he said.
“Successive New Zealand governments have expressed significant concern about the Iranian regime but that does not justify any action, particularly when it breaches international law.”
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the latest conflict in the Middle East endangered the rules-based order New Zealand relied on.
“The idea that we can start encouraging and allowing other countries to invade just because we don’t like their leaders is an incredibly dangerous take for this Prime Minister to support.
“He needs to be up front and declare whether he supports the rule of law, whether he supports countries in the world just willy nilly being able to decide, on vibes, whether they can invade or not.
“That’s really dangerous. That puts us and regions of the world in a really unsafe position.”
ACT leader David Seymour.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Deputy Prime Minister and ACT leader David Seymour is backing Luxon’s stance on the US-Israel attacks on Iran.
“One thing he’s noted that’s important is that New Zealand does not have all of the information that the US and Israel have used to justify their actions,” he told RNZ’s First Up on Tuesday. “So, we could spend a lot of time with New Zealand trying to be precise in its position, but I don’t think that’s what the world’s waiting for.”
He said as a result of the strikes, Iranian girls will have an opportunity to “dress as you like, go to school, do things that are normal rights that have been withheld from them by this regime”.
“And finally, for them in Iran and also for all of us around the world, it’s critical that trade is able to continue and resume so that we don’t face price shocks and even more economic peril. Those are the things that I think are important.”
Seymour would not say if he expected advance warning from allies like the UK if New Zealand troops at allies’ bases in the region were in danger.
“That’s something that we constantly talk about with our allies, but I think it’s safe to say that whatever we may or may not be doing won’t be helped by me announcing it on New Zealand radio…
“Clearly, the safety of New Zealand personnel is critical, and whatever moves might or might not be afoot, we’re not going to discuss publicly.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand was not given any advance notice of the attack on Iran, and has again urged New Zealanders to leave if it is safe to do so.
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