Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says NZ not ‘best placed’ to make call on legality of US, Israel attacks

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the legality of attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran is “ultimately for them to ... explain”. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon won’t say whether attacks from Israel and the United States on Iran are illegal but “any actions” to stop the regime “is a good thing”.

Much of the PM’s post-Cabinet press conference on Monday was dominated by questions about the legality of the attacks which have caused destruction and death, including that of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran retaliated with strikes against its Middle Eastern neighbours, including the United Arab Emirates, and US bases in Qatar and Bahrain.

On Monday, Luxon said whether the strikes from the US and Israel breached international law was “ultimately for them to ... explain”.

“We are not best placed to make that assessment. We weren’t proxy or party to these attacks, they were independently launched by the US and Israel.

“They will have information, intelligence that we haven’t received. We weren’t briefed in advance, we haven’t had a subsequent briefing.”

Luxon told reporters at Parliament the US and Israel would have the information and intelligence to rationalise their actions but New Zealand had not asked to see it.

“The US and Israel have their own deep intelligence in this region, we are not central to this region, we are a long, long way away from it,” he said.

“They have made an assessment based off the information intelligence that they must have about the legal basis for this attack but also for the rationale for doing this attack.”

Luxon maintained his position when asked about reports by international media – citing local media – that more than 100 children had reportedly been killed in a school bombing.

The Guardian, among the media reporting on the incident, was unable to immediately independently verify the reports of the bombing and its death toll.

Luxon withheld a view of the incident, saying it was for Israel and the US to explain.

“That is up to them [Israel and the US] to present what has happened there because I am not in a position to judge that from sitting in New Zealand and just jumping to an assumption or conclusion there.”

Asked to elaborate, Luxon said: “We want to make sure any action is protecting civilians, we want to make sure any action is consistent with international law but we also need Israel to explain their actions and their understanding of that event and that is for them to explain”.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said his party did not support the strikes undertaken by the US and Israel, slamming Luxon for saying New Zealand believed “any actions” stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon was a “good thing” and that this had been the “long-standing commitment under successive Governments”.

Hipkins said he was “somewhat shocked” to hear such comments from the Prime Minister.

“That does not reflect the position that successive New Zealand Governments have taken.

“Successive New Zealand Governments have expressed significant concern about the Iranian regime, but that does not justify any action particularly when it breaches international law.”

The Prime Minister repeated variations of the “any actions” line in his press conference, including that “any actions to stop them from sponsoring terrorism is a good thing” and “any actions that stops them from killing their own people is a good thing”.

Hipkins said there “needed to be a return to diplomacy”.

He added that international rules still matter and while the Iranian Government’s actions are to be condemned, “that doesn’t justify simply ripping up the international rulebook”.

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.