Anthony Albanese has confirmed three Australians were on a US submarine that sank an Iranian warship, after the Labor government previously refused to comment on reports that emerged on Thursday.
The prime minister said Australian defense forces personnel were on the submarine as part of an Aukus training program.
But he maintained that Australian forces complied with international law and said: “No Australian personnel have been involved in any offensive action against Iran.”
Asked about the implications for international law of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, Albanese said Australia was “comfortable” in assessing Tehran posed a threat on three levels.
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“Normally we would not confirm such a matter, but given our NSC (national security cabinet committee) meetings, in the public interest, I can confirm that there were three Australian personnel on board that ship,” Albanese told Sky News Australia on Friday.
“However, I can also confirm that no Australian personnel have been involved in any offensive action against Iran. These are long-standing agreements with third countries that have been in place for a long period of time. And what they do is ensure that Australian defense forces personnel, when embedded in third country defense assets, act in accordance with Australian law and in accordance with Australian policy.”
The Australian government previously refused to reveal whether Australian sailors or officers were aboard the US attack submarine that torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, killing at least 87 people.
On Friday morning, senior ministers initially refused to confirm those details, saying the government had a policy not to comment on the location of ADF personnel.
Albanese said the three Australians on board the submarine were there as part of the Aukus defense pact training programme.
“It’s one of the big advantages behind the Aukus deals: Australian personnel gain experience across a range of assets, including being on board nuclear-powered submarines, but also the sharing that’s happening across the board.”
More than 50 Australian sailors and officers are serving in the US attack submarine fleet, a training regime that is part of preparations for Australia to command its own nuclear-powered submarines under the Aukus agreement.
According to the Royal Australian Navy, one in 10 crew members aboard US Navy attack submarines is Australian.
The attack by a US submarine on the Islamic Republic of Iran ship (Iris) Dena was the first time a US torpedo sank an enemy ship since World War II, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing.
“A US submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. It was sunk by a torpedo, a silent death.”
Hegseth has promised “pure destruction” for the Iranian regime.
“The United States is winning decisively, devastatingly and ruthlessly…they are toast and they know it,” he said.
The Pentagon has not identified which submarine was involved in Wednesday’s attack, but the defense press reported that the submarine that launched the torpedo was the USS Minnesota, a Virginia-class submarine that rotated through the HMAS Stirling base in Western Australia last year.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi described the US attack as an “atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles off the coast of Iran.”
“Mark my words: America will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set.”
At least 87 Iranian sailors were killed in the attack on the Iris Dena on Wednesday. Thirty-two were pulled from the water by the Sri Lankan navy. There were believed to be up to 180 people on board.
The frigate was sailing in international waters while returning from a naval exercise organized by India in the Bay of Bengal.
A Pentagon video that reportedly captured the attack shows the warship being hit by a massive explosion, shattering the ship’s stern and lifting it out of the water before it begins to sink.
The frigate was outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters but still within its economic zone, 44 nautical miles (81 kilometers) from Galle.
