Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has yet to make his position on the US attacks on Iran known as it prepares to send a defence force plane to the Middle East.
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the Government was still assembling “the facts” of the US attack on several Iranian nuclear sites before stating New Zealand’s view.
Luxon will speak on Newstalk ZB just after 7.37am when he calls in from Europe, where he is about to attend the Nato summit in the Hague.
You can listen to the interview live from the below link:
Earlier, Labour Party defence spokesman Peeni Henare, who supports the Defence Force deployment, called for the Government to declare the US bombings are in breach of international law.
The comments came after US President Donald Trump proclaimed his Air Force had carried out a “very successful attack” on three Iran nuclear sites.
Trump said the objective was to put a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s “number one state sponsor of terror”, and accused Iran of being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.
He claimed there are “many targets left”, and if peace was not achieved, the US would target them with “speed, precision and skill”.
Speaking from the Whenuapai airbase yesterday alongside Defence Minister Judith Collins, Peters said a C-130J Hercules plane containing Defence Force and Foreign Affairs personnel would take off from Whenuapai today and would be based in the Middle East.
The pair’s statement didn’t clarify where the Hercules would be based, nor the range of personnel travelling. It was expected to take several days to reach its destination.
The deployment was intended to aid evacuation flights should the airspace around Iran and Israel become less restricted, which could take “weeks”, according to Peters.
He noted discussions with commercial airlines were ongoing, but repeated his advice that Kiwis should leave the region if they could do so safely.
All New Zealanders in the Middle East, not just in Iran and Israel, were urged to register on SafeTravel.
New Zealanders in Iran and Israel needing urgent consular assistance should call the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emergency consular call centre on +64 99 20 20 20.
About 180 New Zealanders had registered as residing in either Israel or Iran, much higher than reported earlier this week. Peters said people were “coming out of the woodwork” amid ongoing attacks.
