Middle East deployment under consideration as government predicts Iran conflict will ‘last weeks, not months’

Australia is considering a request for military assistance from Persian Gulf nations as one senior Albanese government figure privately predicts the US led war against Iran will only “last weeks, not months”.

Since the conflict began over a week ago, all six Gulf States of Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar have been hit by Iranian strikes which have targeted civilian infrastructure including airports.

On Sunday Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong confirmed the government had received requests from some of those countries for protection against drone and missile attacks.

“Many countries who are non-participants have been attacked by Iran through this,” she told ABC TV.

“You would anticipate as a consequence, that we have been asked for assistance and we will work through that.”

“We will work through that in accordance with the position I have outlined, which is we are not participating in offensive action against Iran. And, we’ve made clear we would not participate in any, ground troop deployment into Iran.”

When pressed, the Foreign Minister would not detail what that support might involve but did declare that there should be limits on the intervention in Iran, noting that external attempts at regime change rarely worked.

“What we can do is make a judgment about what is in our national interests, and what we support in order to keep Australians safe. What we’ve said is we support action to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and we support action to prevent Iran from continuing to threaten international peace and security,” Senator Wong added.

Experts say Australia has limited options of military support to give to the Middle East given the counter-drone capabilities of the defence force are still in their infancy, and deploying a warship would take considerable time.

Senator Wong also stressed that any Australian support for the Middle East and the offensive launched by the US and Israel was in the national interest but would not include sending troops into Iran.

“This is not Iraq, and we are not the Howard government. We are not asking Australians to accept Australian men and women to be deployed in a ground war. We have made very clear the basis of the decision and the basis of our engagement”.

Following Senator Wong’s comments, the Coalition said it had sought a briefing about potential deployment of ADF personnel to the Middle East in defensive combat roles.

“Australia had a proud record of standing with our allies and friends in times of crisis, and the Coalition will carefully consider any deployment proposals in the national interest once briefed,” shadow defence minister James Paterson told The West.

The foreign minister also pointed to failures of the UN Security Council in preventing the conflict, and argued military action would not have been needed had the organisation held Iran to account over its nuclear program.

“Of course we would have preferred UN Security Council authority for the action that has been taken, but the UN Security Council has not been able to hold Iran to account,” she said.

While the government contemplates sending further military assets and personnel to the region, the West Australian can reveal Defence Minister Richard Marles last week told a private gathering in Canberra he believed the Iran war would be over “in weeks”.

Several sources who attended the dinner event last Monday have told The West that the defence minister repeatedly expressed the view that “the conflict will be weeks, not months” in duration, but noted “it could get a lot worse before it gets better”.

Mr Marles’ office has declined to comment on the private remarks attributed to him, but a government source pointed to the fact the defence minister has publicly stated a similar view to US President Donald Trump.

“Exactly what the economic impact of this conflict is, is going to be a function of how long this conflict goes and that’s clearly very uncertain,” Mr Marles told reporters last Tuesday when questioned about petrol prices after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Sunday declared the regime can fight an intense war against the US and Israel for at least six months, according to a statement carried by the country’s state run Fars news agency.

“The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran are capable of continuing at least a 6-month intense war at the current pace of operations,” said Guards spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini, according to Fars.

The Guards, Iran’s elite force, also said they had targeted “more than 200” locations related to American and Israeli bases and facilities across the region.

Last week The West revealed that an airfield used by Australian troops in the UAE was hit by drone attacks during the initial hours of the war, but that no personnel were hurt in the incident.