Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he misspoke when he said New Zealand supported “any actions” to stop Iran’s efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Luxon told media today he had meant to say New Zealand had long supported “action” – not “any actions” – to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, sponsoring terrorism and repressing its people. “I think I misspoke on that,” the PM said.
“We’ve long supported action to make sure that Iran doesn’t get its hands on nuclear weapons … but obviously not any actions.”
“It’s not at any cost,” he added. “The [hypothetical] example was raised to me about carpet bombing. Well, clearly that is not what we want to see.
“But we are supportive, as we have been under successive governments around making sure that Iran doesn’t get its hands on a nuclear weapon.”
Reza Nazar Ahari described the strikes as “explicit aggression” and a violation of the UN Charter. (Source: 1News)
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It came after the PM used the phrase “any actions” repeatedly on Monday when outlining New Zealand’s position on the US and Israeli strikes against Iran over the weekend.
“As New Zealand, we’ve had a long-standing commitment under successive governments that any actions that stops Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is a good thing.
“Any actions that stops them from sponsoring terrorism is a good thing. Any actions that stops them from killing their own people is a good thing.
“This is not a good regime, and that has been a long-standing position of New Zealand governments under different administrations,” Luxon said at the media conference.
The exchange followed US and Israeli strikes on Iran beginning Saturday night, which killed the nation’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior regime figures. Iran retaliated with attacks on neighbouring countries and US bases across the Middle East.
The regime says it’s “planned for all scenarios”, but the opposition is ready for change. (Source: 1News)
Luxon had described Iran as “an evil regime” and repeatedly refrained from saying whether the US-Israeli strikes were legal under international law.
“We weren’t proxy or party to these attacks. They are independently launched by the US and Israel … It is ultimately for them to make that assessment and explain their position.”
He added today: “I have seen a number of commentators talk about the legality of those actions. I don’t know how anybody would understand without having access to the information the Israelis or the US has, that they would be able to make that assumption.”
Hipkins: ‘Words matter’
Luxon’s remarks on Monday sparked a sharp rebuke from Labour leader Chris Hipkins, who said later he had been “somewhat shocked” by the Prime Minister’s comments.
“That does not reflect the position that successive New Zealand governments have taken,” Hipkins 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.”
Today, he reacted to Luxon’s correction of his statement: “Words matter, to quote our Foreign Affairs Minister, and at this particular instance, words matter a great deal.
“Adherence to international law shouldn’t be a matter of discretion, it should be something that we expect all countries to adhere to,” he said.
Labour has said it does not support the US-Israeli strikes.
Hipkins said: “I would prefer that the New Zealand government continued to take a very principled stance and saying that we’re actually opposed to this bombing campaign because it is a violation of international law, and New Zealand has a lot of reasons to want the rest of the world to be adhering to international law.”
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The Labour leader compared the situation to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when the then-Helen Clark government refused to back US military action despite support from some other Western nations.
“We condemned Vladimir Putin for breaching international law in his invasion of Ukraine. We shouldn’t simply stand back, and say, ‘oh well, when it’s our friends that do it okay.'”
Luxon also confirmed today that New Zealand joining the military mission was “a no for me” and that the country had not been asked, adding he thought it was unlikely New Zealand would be.