The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Australia joins ICAN International to unequivocally condemn yesterday’s military strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran. Nuclear-armed states launching unlawful attacks is no way to reduce nuclear threats. 

Responding to the Australian government’s position stating its approval of the US “acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon”, ICAN Australia calls on the government to support diplomatic efforts to encourage the parties to the conflict to an immediate return to negotiations and to bolster its own position on nuclear non-proliferation by signing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).  

These shocking events have provoked a dangerous escalation in an already volatile region. This is underscored by the impact of retaliatory attacks on US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, making the need to de-escalate more urgent. 

As a close military partner of the United States, Australia cannot assume it is insulated from these risks. By hosting joint facilities, providing logistical support, and willingly accommodating the enlarged presence of US forces in Australia, including nuclear-capable submarines and aircraft; Australia’s increasing vulnerability to the risk of entanglement is clear. 

ICAN Australia Co-Chairs Tara Gutman and Marianne Hanson stated:

“Australia is being too quick to support force, and too slow to grow peace.” 

“Australia was among the first nations to announce it backed the US and Israeli strikes. In doing so, it has aligned itself with high-risk military action before diplomatic avenues were exhausted and is knowingly condoning clear violations of international law—the very backbone of international peace and security architecture.”

“The United States and Israel are both nuclear-armed states. A conflict being waged by not one but two nuclear powers further heightens the risk of miscalculation, misunderstanding and mistake. The best way to manage nuclear risks is through diplomacy and respect for international law.  Australia needs to hold these principles close, not dispense with them.”

“By adding Australia to the list of 99 countries who have joined the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, Australia would be supporting the only global, legally binding instrument designed to comprehensively prohibit  nuclear weapons and reduce nuclear risk. This would also ring fence Australia from nuclear risks inherent in our growing military integration with nuclear-armed allies.”

“The only way to avoid nuclear catastrophe and to discourage more states from seeking their own nuclear weapons, is to uphold and vigorously defend international law and to implement the TPNW—a treaty which seeks to ban nuclear weapons for all states. In moments of crisis such as these, the temptation is to close ranks. The responsibility of middle powers like Australia, however, is in fact the opposite: to insist that the rules matter most when they are most inconvenient.”