>>24318774

Australia rules out military role in Iran conflict

Renju Jose - March 2, 2026

SYDNEY, March 2 (Reuters) - Australia said on Monday it would not take part in any military operations in Iran, ruling out deploying troops to the Middle East if the conflict escalates, as Israel launched fresh strikes on Tehran and Iran responded with more missile attacks.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in an attack on Saturday, while the United States reported its first casualties in the war as U.S. President Donald Trump hinted the conflict could last for four more weeks.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Canberra would not get involved.

"Australia is not central to the issues in the Middle East. We didn't participate in these strikes and we wouldn't anticipate participating in the future," Wong told Channel Nine on Monday.

Wong said the Australian government was in discussions with airlines to help Australians stranded in the Middle East but acknowledged that evacuation plans would be difficult while airspace across much of the region remained closed.

"We understand how distressing and challenging this time is, and we will do all that we can to provide you with information and to support you. The situation is very challenging," Wong earlier told reporters in Canberra.

About 115,000 Australians were in the region and the most viable option to get them home would be when commercial airlines resumed services, Wong said. She declined to say whether the government was planning repatriation flights.

"There is conflict in the region, we've seen loss of life across the region and airspace is not open. So whether or not it is an Australian flight or a commercial flight, the flights are not able to occur," Wong said.

Air travel to the Middle East, a major travel hub toward Asia and Europe for Australians, remained disrupted on Monday with Etihad and Emirates cancelling some flights from Australia.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the government had taken measures for the safety of about 100 Australian defence personnel based at the Al Minhad Air Base near Dubai, which is used to support UN missions.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-rules-out-military-role-iran-conflict-2026-03-02/

>>24318774

115,000 stuck in Middle East; Aussie UAE expats recount air strikes

ELIZABETH PIKE and THOMAS HENRY - 2 March 2026

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An estimated 115,000 Australians are stuck in the Middle East, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said as she backed US-Israeli strikes that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The government’s priority was to facilitate the return of stranded Australians on commercial flights if and when international routes reopened, Senator Wong said. She encouraged those in the Middle East to register with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“We need to see if commercial flights will restart. We know that this is a very volatile situation,” she told ABC News Breakfast.

“We will continue to provide as up-to-date and timely information as we can. And I would urge people who are needing assistance to register with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.”

Lives shattered

Australian expats and travellers say their dream lives abroad and long-awaited holidays have been shattered by the conflict in the Middle East.

Retaliatory strikes by the Iranian regime hit international airports and central areas in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha over the weekend, fracturing the reputation the Gulf cities have built up over decades as a safe haven for foreigners and international business.

Brisbane mum Lucy Edgar, her husband Tom and their son Lucas were meant to return to Australia next month after moving to Abu Dhabi for a professional sport posting last October.

Speaking to The Australian from their high-rise apartment in the waterfront suburb of Corniche, Ms Edgar told how she sheltered in the bath with her son for three hours as missiles struck the city. She played music to keep her son calm, not knowing where the missiles were falling or when they would stop.

“That was a sickening feeling, not knowing what’s going on, where the missiles were going,” she said.

“The only thing that eased me a little bit is that we started to realise that a lot of the missiles were being intercepted or targeted towards the army bases, which for us is maybe a 20-minute drive away.

“There was no information for quite a while, the news outlets and everyone was trying to catch up and so we really relied on these WhatsApp mothers groups, people sending each other videos and information … many people in these groups were talking about how they had shrapnel falling in their backyards.”

Ms Edgar thought the “loud bangs” she heard on Saturday afternoon were people celebrating Ramadan, before a friend sent her a video of a missile flying over the nearby Yas Waterworld, which was packed with families.

Her husband was away competing and so Ms Edgar “grabbed” her son and sheltered, barely sleeping through the night as sirens blared. The experience has been jarring, even for the seasoned expats.

“If you asked me over 24 hours ago, before this happened, I would have told you how incredible Abu Dhabi is, it has been my favourite city to live in, especially with a family,” she said.

“But there’s a real uneasy feeling (now) … because we are technically stuck and trapped here.”

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Adding to the unease were ­issues with the emergency ­Australian embassy contact in the UAE, which Ms Edgar said she could not call, along with ­fellow travellers, who made ­numerous attempts to flag the issue with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Perth resident Rob, who wished to remain anonymous, said he tried to reach the emergency consular assistance line after becoming trapped in Dubai on a short holiday.

He said DFAT had been “totally useless” and “no one could get through on the emergency number” for hours.

The couple had been trying to access help during repeated evacuations to the ground floor or their hotel, where they were held in lockdown as the region was targeted with 130 missiles and more than 200 drones in the last 24 hours, according to the UAE Defence Ministry.

A DFAT spokesman said the issue was caused by a “temporary loss of service for mobile networks in the UAE and Lebanon, which has since been restored. Local landlines were reportedly not affected”.

“We have diverted phone lines for affected embassies and consulates to the Consular Emergency Centre in Canberra,” the spokesman said.

DFAT estimated 25,000 Australians live and work in Dubai’s thriving business and industry sectors, making the city an enclave for international workers and visitors.

The city’s flashy skyline has also not been spared, with reports that an intercepted Iranian drone caused a fire on Dubai’s iconic seven-star hotel, the Burj Al Arab.

Airports and other airspaces have been temporarily closed following the strikes, including reports of a direct drone strike on Dubai’s main international airport at about 8am AEST on Sunday. Further attacks on the Abu Dhabi Zayed international airport killed an Asian national, authorities confirmed.

Tens of thousands of flights have also been cancelled and further delays are expected as a second round of strikes hits the region.

On Saturday, DFAT warned Australians against travelling to numerous regions in the Middle East including Dubai.

The warning came just days after families of Australian embassy staff and officials were directed to leave Israel and Lebanon, while voluntary departures were offered to families in Jordan, Qatar and the UAE.

“Due to the volatile security situation in the region and military strikes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), we’ve raised our level of advice for the UAE to do not travel,” a DFAT statement read.

“Retaliatory strikes are occurring following military strikes on Iran. Military conflict in the ­region may result in widespread movement restrictions, airspace closures, flight cancellations and other travel disruptions.

“Australian officials and dependants are sheltering in place during strikes. Prioritise your safety, monitor events and follow local advice, including instructions to shelter in place.

“Demonstrations and protest activity may also occur, and local security situations could deteriorate with little notice.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/australian-expats-tourists-stuck-in-dubai-report-struggles-reaching-embassy-dfat/news-story/140f665fe16cc43ae123aeff1f8f7e6b

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN0WHgfqnkg

>>24318774

Shiite clerics honour Khamenei, Hezbollah leader in sermons Tony Burke says will be watched

ELIZABETH PIKE and MOHAMMAD ALFARES - 2 March 2026

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Shi’ite Muslims in Sydney and Melbourne have openly mourned the death of Iran’s “Godly” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and have called for the struggle against “American-Israeli aggression” to continue, leading Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to warn them that agencies would be watching.

Sermons and public obituaries honouring Khamenei were released by at least five Shiite institutions in the hours after Iranian state media confirmed his death on Sunday, following the first wave of airstrikes by the US and ­Israel.

At the Al Zahra Mosque in Arncliffe on Sunday night, Sheik Ali Safdari delivered strong praise for Khamenei in a sermon streamed to social media, saying he was “the embodiment of everything we wanted in a leader”.

Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah was also honoured, as Sheik Safdari lauded Khamenei’s decades-long “struggle in serving the message, in empowering Muslims, in fighting imperialism, in fighting Zionism”.

“They can kill the soldiers, they can kill the scholars, but they cannot kill what the soldiers stood for and what the scholars died for and what we live for,” he said.

Less than 10km away in Kingsgrove, notorious cleric Sheik Youssef Nabha invoked Khamenei and the Hezbollah leader as part of a lineage of martyrs as he told followers the “struggle” against “American-Israeli aggression” should continue.

“This path, the path of confrontation between truth and falsehood, between good and evil, between justice and oppression, will continue until the reappearance (of the Mahdi),” Sheik Nabha told congregants.

“We will remain steadfast in our faith and commitment before and after … With all the sacrifices we have experienced in these years, the martyrs in Lebanon of His Eminence Sayyed Hassan (Nasrallah) and all the martyred leaders; likewise His Eminence Sayyed Khamenei and all the Iranian leaders.”

The sermon also heard that the objective of military action against Iran is to force the Islamic Republic to choose “between surrender – meaning humiliation – or resistance, sacrifice and martyrdom”.

Nasrallah was the long-time head of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant organisation that is listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia. Khamenei was the totalitarian Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran for 36 years. Both deaths – Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike and Khamenei in a joint US-Israeli strike – have reverberated through the Middle East and now in Australia.

The Elzahra organisation in Melbourne and Husaineyat Sayeda Zaynab foundation in Sydney also invited members to take part in Majlis, or memorial sittings, honouring Khamenei for three days. The Flagbearer Foundation, a Shi’ite community organisation in nearby Arncliffe, advertised its own Majlis before the invitation was taken down.

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Publicised events to mourn the death of Khamenei come despite the Albanese government’s condemnation of the regime, swift support for the US-Israeli airstrikes and listing of the para­military Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The expulsion of the Iranian ambassador last year followed two IRGC-linked antisemitic attacks, and Mr Burke said government agencies would be keeping a close eye on Khamenei’s supporters.

“This man was a hateful figure, he led a regime that slaughtered its own people and led attacks on our soil. I fail to understand how anyone can mourn him,” Mr Burke said. “I have no doubt our agencies monitor this sort of rhetoric very closely.”

But the carefully worded sermons honouring Khamenei, spoken in Arabic and translated to English by The Australian, appeared to skirt laws introduced by the Albanese government that aim to crack down on hate preachers and those who vilify people of other faiths.

The Australian understands the sermons would also evade NSW government’s crackdown on “factories of hate” as the laws apply to illegal prayer halls, not ­official places of worship.

But NSW Premier Chris Minns made his opposition clear on Monday, labelling the memorial events “atrocious”.

“By any objective measure, the ayatollah was evil, and I don’t think we should be mincing words about this. The truth of the matter is, weeks ago he and his regime were responsible for killing 30,000 protesters within that city, for ­simply demonstrating against the regime and their practices,” Mr Minns said.

“This is a regime that murders young boys on the suspicion of being gay. I think we can call the mourning of this tyrant atrocious.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said any mosques honouring Khamenei should be subject to criminal investigations for links to the IRGC.

Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam urged the Albanese government to “forcefully respond” to the pro-Khamenei sermons.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/australian-mosques-organisations-hold-events-honouring-martyrdom-of-irans-ayatollah-ali-khamenei/news-story/c88e3f7a1f04d1813743632358d97509