Updated ,first published
Anthony Albanese has been accused of misleading Australians about the nation’s involvement in the war between the United States and Iran after the prime minister confirmed that three Australians were aboard a nuclear-powered US submarine that sunk an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka.
The Australian submariners’ presence on the vessel has also sparked renewed debate about whether the nation is losing sovereignty by become so enmeshed with the US military through the AUKUS pact.
“We wouldn’t normally confirm such an issue, but given our NSC [National Security Committee of Cabinet] meetings and the public interest, I can confirm that there were three Australian persons on board that vessel. I can confirm also, though, that no Australian personnel have participated in any offensive action against Iran,” Albanese told Sky News on Friday.
Albanese insisted that the three Australian crew members played no active role in the sinking of the frigate IRIS Dena on Wednesday off India’s eastern coast.
The Australian Defence Force initially refused to confirm the presence of Australians on the submarine, saying only that for operational security reasons they did not disclose “specific details regarding third-country deployments, including the number of personnel or their location”.
Australia has been embedding crews on US nuclear submarines since 2023 as part of the AUKUS pact, hoping to send as many as 440 Australians below with US crews before it takes command of its own nuclear-powered vessels.
Albanese said the three Australians were gaining experience with allied militaries as part of the AUKUS pact.
“One of the big pluses behind the AUKUS arrangements is Australian personnel getting experience across a range of assets, including being onboard nuclear-powered submarines, but also the exchange that’s occurring across the board,” Albanese said.
“So it’s not just personnel, it’s engineers, it’s technicians, it’s people learning those skills, whether they be in the United States or the United Kingdom,” the prime minister said.
The Greens’ defence spokesman, David Shoebridge, said it was now obviously “a lie” that Australia is not involved in the attacks on Iran.
“It’s extraordinary that it has taken this long for the Australian government to admit at least some of the truth about Australia’s involvement in this illegal war by the United States in Israel on Iran,” Shoebridge said in a news conference.
“However, it is extraordinary that the prime minister, literally in the same sentence, said that Australian personnel were on a US nuclear attack-class submarine that struck and sunk an Iranian frigate but Australia is not directly involved in the war in Iran. These two facts cannot sit together in the same sentence. And what is becoming increasingly clear is that Labor’s statement since this war began, that Australia is not directly involved in the war, has been a lie.”
Dr Rodger Shanahan, an expert on Middle East politics and former army officer, said it was “nonsensical” to argue that the Australian submariners weren’t taking part in offensive action against Iran.
“Certainly, they weren’t probably part of the authority chain to determine the target, to make sure that the torpedoes were ready to go and to fire the torpedoes, but they’re a part of the crew, so they’re part of that submarine,” he told the ABC.
“Practically speaking, you can’t say they were part of the crew, but they weren’t part of offensive action.”
Shanahan said it was incumbent on the government to be more forthright about whether it believes the US and Israel’s military actions comply with international law.
Jennifer Parker, a maritime security expert at UNSW, said: “My interpretation of the law of naval warfare is that the presence of Australian personnel on this submarine does not mean Australia is actively contributing to the war effort.”
The former naval officer, who was deployed with the British navy, also said: “There is a procedure to manage this. You know the boundaries of what you can and can’t do.”
Former defence force chief Chris Barrie said he was untroubled by the Australians’ presence on the submarine, arguing that it was common for personnel to be embedded with each other’s militaries for training.
“This is a story of professional armed forces doing what they do. It’s extremely valuable,” said Barrie, an admiral and former deputy chief of navy.
Barrie said the scenario was similar to the Falklands War, when Australian personnel served with the British forces despite not being directly involved in the conflict. He said there were clear protocols in place to ensure Australian personnel complied with government policy.
Australia’s first nuclear-powered submarine – a second-hand Virginia-class boat – is scheduled to arrive in 2032.
Sam Roggeveen, head of the Lowy Institute’s international security program, said the operation in Sri Lanka showed how Australia was entering an extremely “intimate” partnership with the US through AUKUS, one that could limit the nation’s freedom to make truly sovereign decisions in future conflicts, including a possible war over Taiwan.
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Matthew Knott is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X, Facebook or email.
Nick Newling is a federal politics reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.