Australia and Germany \u201cunequivocally condemn\u201d Iran as Israel and the Islamic Republic trade blows, while the government warns Australians are \u201cfrustrated\u201d by the \u201cstop-start\u201d conflict.<\/p>\n
Iran and Israel agreed overnight to halt tit-for-tat strikes that reignited fears of a renewed all-out conflict in the Middle East two months after a ceasefire deal was struck with the US.<\/p>\n
However, a lasting peace has proved elusive, with Israel continuing to seek to root out the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah from Lebanon.<\/p>\n
In a joint statement from Berlin, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles and German counterparts Johann Wadephul and Boris Pistorius condemned Iran over the \u201cescalation\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst the backdrop of expanding conflict and escalating humanitarian impacts in the Middle East, Australia and Germany called on all parties to uphold international law and protect civilian life,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMinisters unequivocally condemned Iran\u2019s dangerous escalations, particularly in and around the Strait of Hormuz, its attacks against merchant vessels, and threats of further attacks. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey recognised the severe disruptions to the global economy and supply chains and reaffirmed their shared commitment to open markets and rules-based trade in energy resources, liquid fuels, and downstream commodities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ministers reiterated support for a \u201cdiplomatic resolution to the conflict\u201d and urged Iran to \u201cimmediately and unconditionally\u201d restore free, safe, and toll-free passage through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
It comes as Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlewaite warned the ceasefire between Israel and Iran remained \u201cfragile\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that Australians are becoming increasingly frustrated with the stop-start nature of this conflict and the fact that the Strait of Hormuz still largely remains closed to shipping and that\u2019s having a dramatic impact on Australia\u2019s domestic markets, particularly the fuel market,\u201d he told ABC Radio National.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, it\u2019s now starting to flow through to household goods like food and groceries, and obviously that\u2019s had an effect on inflation. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we want to see this conflict brought to an end quickly as possible. We want this temporary ceasefire to become a permanent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel continues attack on Lebanon<\/p>\n
Mr Thistlewaite said there had been \u201ccontinual dialogue\u201d with Israels ambassador Hillel Newman over the importance of Lebanon\u2019s territorial integrity after Israeli troops launched the deepest incursion into Lebanon in almost 30 years.<\/p>\n
He said discussions included Israel \u201cceasing the incursions that the Israeli Defence Force has had into southern Lebanon and, more broadly, calling on Israel to abide by the ceasefire conditions and to negotiate a lasting outcome\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe only way we\u2019re going to get peace in the Middle East is if there\u2019s a lasting two-state solution that\u2019s put in place, in accordance with the policy that our government\u2019s adopted, that\u2019s reinforced through the United Nations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil we can say that the parties are willing to look to negotiate something like that, it makes it very difficult for this conflict to come to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Thistlewaite dismissed following Italy\u2019s lead by establishing an independent probe into allegations of sexual assault and mistreatment of an activist flotilla detained while en route to Gaza that included a number of Australians. <\/p>\n
Israel has denied the allegations. <\/p>\n
More than 3600 Lebanese have been killed and at least one million displaced since Hezbollah entered the Iran war on March 2, prompting retaliatory action from Israel with whom the group had fought an earlier war in 2024. <\/p>\n
Israel and Lebanon are separately in talks for a lasting peace decades after Israel troops marched as far north as the capital Beirut amid the chaos of the Lebanese Civil War in an effort to root out the Palestine Liberation Organisation and ensure Lebanon had a government friendly to Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah, which came to prominence in its fight to end Israel\u2019s decade-long occupation of southern Lebanon, has denied it is covered by agreements between Beirut and Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia and Germany \u201cunequivocally condemn\u201d Iran as Israel and the Islamic Republic trade blows, while the government warns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25939,25931,124,297,22,23,133,21,25922,25943,25924,25916,25930,25940,25934,25928,290,25938,25942,10517,25941,25945,25929,25944,25919,104,1554,25925,25920,7536,25932,25917,25926,21030,25927,22719,5820,25933,22295,379,119,135,120,25923,470,25935,485,291,7535,25946,25937,10320,25921,25936,25918,13857,117,282,293],"class_list":["post-28108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-abc-radio-national","tag-activist-flotilla","tag-america","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-austrlia","tag-berlin","tag-boris-pistorius","tag-ceasefire-conditions","tag-ceasefire-deal","tag-civilian-life","tag-dangerous-escalations","tag-domestic-markets","tag-energy-resources","tag-europe","tag-fuel-market","tag-german-counterparts","tag-germany","tag-hezbollah","tag-household-goods","tag-humanitarian-impacts","tag-independent-probe","tag-international-law","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-israeli-defence-force","tag-israeli-troops","tag-italy","tag-lasting-peace","tag-lasting-peace-decades","tag-lasting-two-state-solution","tag-lebanon","tag-liquid-fuels","tag-matt-thistlewaite","tag-middle-east","tag-militant-group","tag-nathan-schmidt","tag-newswire-news","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-palestine-liberation-organisation","tag-penny-wong","tag-retaliatory-action","tag-richard-marles","tag-southern-asia","tag-southern-europe","tag-stop-start-nature","tag-stop-start-war","tag-supply-chains","tag-temporary-ceasefire","tag-territorial-integrity","tag-tit-for-tat-strikes","tag-united-nations","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-western-asia","tag-western-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}