Nuclear experts have warned that Australian assistance in US airstrikes on Iran could make the country a target for retaliation, as government ministers remain tight-lipped about the potential involvement of the secretive US-Australian surveillance base at Pine Gap in Sunday's bombardment.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican), an Australian-founded organisation that won the 2017 Nobel peace prize, said Australia should not facilitate the attacks, 'directly or indirectly', and that 'by assisting the US we risk becoming a target'. Ican warned that this includes the possibility of being targeted in a conventional or nuclear strike, particularly in the event of further escalation.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked repeatedly on Monday about Australia's level of involvement in the strikes. 'We are upfront, but we don't talk about intelligence,' he told reporters. 'We've made very clear this was unilateral action taken by the United States.' The Department of Defence and Defence Minister Richard Marles declined to comment, while Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said there had been no request from the US for Australia to become 'more involved' in the conflict.
Ican argued that Australia was not a bystander to the recent US airstrikes, and that the joint US-Australian surveillance base at Pine Gap was integral to US nuclear targeting and war-fighting capabilities. Contribution to the attacks by Pine Gap could make Australia complicit and a target, Ican said. 'This risk is heightened by a global trend: nuclear-armed states are lowering the threshold for military action, including strikes on nuclear facilities,' the group added.
Gem Romuld, director of Ican Australia, called on the government to 'immediately rule out any logistical support for these operations, including by denying permission for US B-2 stealth or B-52 bombers attacking Iran to transit or refuel in Australia'. Dr Margaret Beavis, Australian co-chair of Ican, said any Australian support for the US strikes would 'actively undermine the global rules-based order' and risk accelerating nuclear proliferation.
Professor Richard Tanter, senior research associate at the Nautilus Institute, said it was a 'realistic assessment' that Pine Gap might be involved in some capacity in Sunday's bombardment. Tanter noted that Pine Gap is a ground station for intelligence satellites, including early warning infra-red satellites stationed over the Middle East. He added that data from these satellites runs directly to the US through Pine Gap without Australian intervention, and that Australia was increasingly casting itself 'as an enabler of American strategic projection'.
