Albanese confirms Australia to deploy Wedgetail aircraft to the Middle East
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The news: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that Australia will deploy an E-7A Wedgetail aircraft to Gulf countries and supply advanced medium-ranged air-to-air missiles to the United Arab Emirates to help protect the region.
The context: Speaking at a press conference in Canberra, Albanese said the government’s priority was to keep Australians safe and assist travellers to leave the region. There are around 115,000 Australians in the Middle East, including roughly 24,000 in the UAE, Albanese said.
Albanese said Australian forces would not be used for offensive operations against Iran. Around 85 personnel will be deployed from Australia today to provide consular support.
Further to this, he has issued five humanitarian visas overnight for members of the Iranian women’s soccer team after Trump urged Australia to grant them entry. The move followed comments by the Iranian state television presenter Mohammad Reza Shahbazi, who accused the team of dishonour, calling them “wartime traitors” who must be “dealt with more severely”.
