Doorstop, Parliament House

SUBJECTS: Conflict in the Middle East. 

JOURNALIST: Hi, Richard. This is the second time in nine months the US and Israel have attacked Iran in the middle of negotiations. You've supported that both times. What incentive does the Iranian regime have to trust diplomacy anymore? And hasn't the US given it every incentive to fight now to the bitter end?

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think– look, the Iranian regime has been an oppressive regime. There has been talks that have gone on for a very long period of time. It is absolutely abhorrent in its actions. The international community can have no trust in the Iranian regime in respect of its nuclear weapons program, and–

JOURNALIST: They struck a deal with Obama, though, didn't they? That was working and it was ripped up.

MARLES: Ultimately, what's fundamentally important here is that Iran is prevented from acquiring a nuclear weapon and we support America in its actions to prevent Iran from acquiring that. And were Iran to acquire a nuclear capability, that would be a very, very bad day for the world.

JOURNALIST: We know we don't have diplomats on the ground in Iran anymore. So what's your message to Australians who may be looking to the government for help to get home? Is it essentially; you're on your own, if you can get out on your own you should do so? Is there any capacity for repatriations out of Iran?

MARLES: Well, we have the crisis portal open for Australians who are in Iran. But I would make this point, for a very long time now, our travel advice has been to not travel to Iran and that if it is safe to do so, to leave. We have the crisis portal open in respect of those in Iran. But as you rightly say, since our embassy ceasing operations there, our ability to help people on the ground in Iran is limited. And that's the fact of the matter. Which is, of course, why our travel advice has been for a long time now to not travel to Iran to leave if it’s safe to do so. 

JOURNALIST: So Minister, are there anyrisks that Australian assets get caught up in this? Being hit like US ones have been? US assets?

MARLES: Well, in terms of the Middle East, we do have personnel who are in the Middle East theater, it is north of 100. Most of those are actually in the UAE, where we do have a base at Al Minhad, which is outside of Dubai. All of our personnel are accounted for and we are clearly taking measures to provide for their safety, and we will continue to obviously watch that very closely.

JOURNALIST: Would Australia be willing to provide any form of military support in these actions, if asked?

MARLES: This is an action which is being undertaken by the United States and Israel. I mean, we've made our position clear in respect of this action, but this is an action which has been undertaken by both of those countries. We weren't advised of it, but we wouldn't expect to be advised of it either. I mean, this is–

JOURNALIST: Why not? We have military assets there. Why wouldn't we expect Washington to let us know?

MARLES: Because ultimately, this is an action which has been taken by– 

JOURNALIST: But Australian lives might be at risk. 

MARLES: This is an action which has been taken by the United States and by Israel. They're the two countries who are involved here. We're not involved. And as such, we wouldn't expect to be advised. We can all see what has been brewing over the course of the last few weeks that has enabled us to be able to take some steps, and we've done that in respect of the dependence of our diplomats who are in the region. And you would have seen the steps that we've taken in the weeks leading up to this. So whilst we were not made aware of it, it's not a surprise and the world has been looking at this region very closely. Our systems do clearly talk, and there has been conversation since the action has started. So we are confident about our abilities here. That said, it's a very dangerous part of the world. We are very much looking at taking care of the Australian personnel who are there, and we are very cognisant of the very significant consular challenge that is represented by having about 115,000 Australians across the region, and that's very much our focus at this moment. 

ENDS