Australia’s preparation for Iran war a ‘trainwreck’, One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce says

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has claimed his faith in US President Donald Trump “doesn’t really matter” and instead Australia must “deal with the cards that have been dealt” to it, after the US leader again threatened to blow up civilian infrastructure in Iran, should a peace deal not be struck.

In a post on his Truth Social account, Mr Trump said the US was “going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”. “They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honour to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other presidents, for the last 47 years,” he wrote.

The threat comes as both the US and Iran have accused each other of violating a fragile two-week ceasefire. Australia has repeatedly backed calls for an end to the conflict and urged the warring parties to ramp up diplomatic negotiations to achieve the same.

Mr Joyce echoed this sentiment on Monday, telling Seven’s Sunrise Australians all “hoped and prayed” the conflict would come to an end as soon as possible.

But he also refused to make an assessment of Mr Trump’s actions.

Asked if he had faith in the US leader, the New England MP said: “Well, it doesn’t really matter.”

“We’ve got to deal with the cards that have been dealt with us,” he said.

“It does show the world in a febrile nature, and we’re living in a different world now.

“And it shows that, as we’ve always known, there’s no such thing as a short war. They just go on, and this one’s going on.” But a major learning for Australia was to “prepare ourselves better in the future”, he said.

“We were not prepared for this. And if something like this happens again … we have got to be vastly better prepared than we were this time, because this is in some areas is a train wreck, economically.”

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek earlier told the same broadcaster Australia wanted to see peace “as soon as possible”, conceding the global uncertainty did not “benefit anyone”.

“And we’ve seen real impacts on civilians in Iran and around the Middle East, which, of course, we’re concerned about,” she said.

“And although Australia is not formally a party to this conflict, Australians are paying a very heavy price for it. “You certainly see the price at the petrol station, but you also see it flowing through to goods and services across the economy ... We want to see de-escalation, and we want to see the situation resolved.”

Australia was not consulted or informed by the US and Israel ahead of their strikes on Iran on February 28. But Australia was the first country to express qualified support for US actions, supporting the goal of degrading Tehran’s nuclear capability.

Anthony Albanese has since called for clarity on Mr Trump’s objectives.

More to come.