Karl Stefanovic, Host: Penny, thanks for your time this morning. A lot going on. I take it you were surprised by the US attack on Iran. Do you support the strikes?
Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: Good to be with you, Karl. Look, the world has long understood we cannot allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. This action is being taken to prevent that. So, we support action to prevent Iran getting a nuclear weapon. And why do we support that? Because these sites are specific to Iran's nuclear program. And we know what the UN nuclear watchdog has said, Karl, and that is Iran is enriching to almost military levels, enough for a number of nuclear weapons.
Stefanovic: What part of the attack was de-escalating?
Foreign Minister: Look, obviously we do say what happens next matters, and you've heard me say for some time, and it's a call that many world leaders and foreign ministers have articulated, that ultimately we want to see de-escalation and diplomacy. And that's not just words, it's a view about the risk to the people of the region and to the world, to global instability. If we see escalation and a full-scale war. We do not want to see that.
Stefanovic: Why did it take so long for you to publicly state your position?
Foreign Minister: I don't accept that characterisation Karl, I'm here talking to you now.
Stefanovic: It's 24 hours after the world reacted.
Foreign Minister: Well, I think you saw a statement from the Government yesterday. The Deputy Prime Minister was obviously up in the morning and you have me today and I'm speaking with you.
Stefanovic: All right. Last week you were calling for de-escalation. Friday you spoke with Marco Rubio. The US did the very opposite of what you were calling for. But you support it?
Foreign Minister: What I said was Iran had to come to the negotiating table and we urged Iran to come back to the negotiating table and engage in diplomacy. It's the same thing I think the US President was saying. It's the same thing that Prime Minister Starmer was saying. It's the same thing European leaders were saying. But we are where we are now, and the question is what happens next.
Stefanovic: So, just to clarify, you do support the strike on Iran?
Foreign Minister: We support action to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. And that is what this is. The answer is yes, Karl, I've said that up front.
Stefanovic: So, what credibility and impact does calling for de-escalation have when in a way you're supporting the hit on Iran?
Foreign Minister: Well, I think it's what happens next is what the world is focused on, Karl. And the words I am articulating are really the same message that world leaders have – does anybody want a full-scale war and continued escalation in the Middle East?
Stefanovic: Was the US military base in Pine Gap used in this operation?
Foreign Minister: You wouldn't expect me to comment on intelligence matters ever, Karl. But what I would say is, the US has made it clear this was a unilateral strike.
Stefanovic: Ok, so you don't know if joint US-Australian satellite communications and signals intelligence based 18 clicks south of the Alice was used to coordinate an attack on Iran? You just don't want to go into it?
Foreign Minister: Karl, that's the same question and I've answered it.
Stefanovic: There's still thousands of Aussies stuck in both Israel and Iran. What do these new escalations mean for those evacuation efforts?
Foreign Minister: Obviously this is a highly risky and precarious situation and my heart goes out to Australians in Iran and in Israel and to their friends and families in Australia who are so deeply worried about them. In relation to Israel, we have not been in a position obviously as a consequence of the security situation to continue with land border crossings. There are reports, and I don't put it any higher than that, reports of airspace opening for Israel for a limited period. We are working on contingency arrangements to see if we can get a flight in to collect people and we have notified people on the ground about that. The situation in Iran is even worse and more serious. We obviously have had to make the difficult decisions to close our embassy and our diplomats to leave for obvious reasons. I have asked Australian officials to be the Azerbaijani border so people do make it to that border crossing which is one of the nearest – obviously, Iran's a very big country so it's all relative – crossings, land border crossings from Tehran. Australian officials are on the ground to assist Australians who do make it to that border. Obviously, it's a very distressing situation.
Stefanovic: Are our officials out yet?
Foreign Minister: Yes, they are.
Stefanovic: Okay, so now it's a very difficult and dangerous operation to get day to day personnel out and also puts our defence personnel in a pretty precarious position.
Foreign Minister: Exactly, and our foreign affairs officials, obviously it's very hard for diplomats to leave but we had to make a difficult decision to tell our officials to leave the country.
Stefanovic: Okay, I guess that's going to be a hard message to accept for some Australians who are there waiting to be taken out.
Foreign Minister: I understand that. And you know, obviously we have a history in Iran of risk to foreign officials in times of unrest. People would remember there's been many examples of that over the recent decades and we have to be mindful of that. But we will continue to communicate with people. We have a 24 hour crisis line. People are registered with us. As soon as we are able to assist, we will seek to do so.
Stefanovic: If the US asks us to get more involved in the conflict, will we?
Foreign Minister: Look, we have not been, no such request has been made. And I wouldn't speculate. But, I again would say we are concerned, as are so many people around the world about continued escalation. No one wants to see full-scale war in the Middle Wast.
Stefanovic: Okay Penny Wong, appreciate your time as always. Thank you.
Foreign Minister: Good to speak with you.