Anthony Albanese has disputed Donald Trump’s claim that Australia “said no” to the President’s request to “get involved” with the war in Iran.
The US President made the comments on Friday at a press conference in Washington.
“Well, they should get involved, and I was a little bit surprised that they said no, because we always say yes to them,” the President said.
On Saturday, the Prime Minister pushed back against Mr Trump’s claims.
“The truth is that we have said yes to the request of the UAE for the E7 Wedgetail aircraft,” Mr Albanese said.
“We continue to provide the support that we have been asked to provide.”
When a journalist began to ask “If the President does ask-”, Mr Albanese swiftly cut them off.
“Well, (Trump) hasn’t asked, so I’m not going to go through hypotheticals. We have done what we have been asked to do.”
He replied “we have done what we have been asked to do” when further pressed about whether he knew what Mr Trump meant by the comments.
Mr Albanese reiterated a pledge he made immediately after being elected that he would not comment on every single thing the US President says.
‘There are comments at various times, I’ve said very early on, I don’t intend to comment on all of what someone else says, and I stand by that,” he said.
He also called for the Iranian military to cease attacks.
“We again call upon the Iranian regime to stop its attacks, whether it be on the economic foundations for global trade, or whether it be on the 12 neighbours that it has attacked,” Mr Albanese said.
“It’s difficult to see what their strategy is, except for alienating the Iranian regime from all of its neighbours.”
Australia has sent a heavy duty air force surveillance plane and missile defence systems to the UAE in response to a request from the Emirates.
Mr Albanese also said he and the US President spoke on the phone in the past week.
“Look, I had a very positive conversation with President Trump, one-on-one, on the phone just a little over a week ago.
“We continue to engage constructively with our American friends.”
This weekend’s back-and-forth between Mr Albanese and Mr Trump comes after Australia belatedly signed a commitment with the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, and Canada to ensure tankers can freely move through The Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has been attacking commercial vessels in the Strait, it has been reported.
The joint pledge from the modern Western allies says the nations have “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage” through the integral strait.
The joint statement was issued Thursday without an Australia signatory, but the Australian government announced on Saturday morning that it had since signed on.
“We’ve signed up to the statement that’s been issued, has been co-ordinated by the United Kingdom that speaks about the work that we’re doing to ensure the Straits of Hormuz are open,” Mr Albanese said on Saturday.
“That’s critical.”
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei earlier this week said any Australian military assets in the Persian Gulf could be targets.
“We cannot recognise that those military assets being deployed to intercept our missiles, our drones against the aggressors would be regarded simply as defensive,” spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told the ABC’s 7.30.
“That’s going to be part of this aggression.”
