Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The first point I would make is that Iran is attacking countries who have not been part of striking Iran. I would make that point first. The United Arab Emirates and many of the other Gulf countries have not been taking part in the strikes on Iran, and they continue to do so. We also have Australians in the region. You speak of Australian lives. I've made clear we have 115,000 Australians in the region. A large cohort of those are in the United Arab Emirates, where there were 24,000 at the commencement of the conflict.

The capability we have announced today is defensive. It is to help Gulf countries protect themselves and their citizens, including Australian citizens who are there, from attack by Iran. We have made clear that we are prepared to take defensive action. These assets will operate according to Australian law, policy and directives. I again say what I have said previously: we are not taking offensive action against Iran and we will not be deploying Australian troops—