Anthony Albanese has joined calls for Israel and Iran to de-escalate their bombing campaigns, amid fears the Middle East conflict will escalate even more.
Israel and Iran began trading missile blows on Friday after the Israeli military launched attacks with the stated aim of wiping out Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Iran vowed to “open the gates of hell” in retaliation, with the conflict continuing into Sunday.
The military strikes were discussed between the prime minister and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney ahead of the G7 summit in Canada.
Mr Albanese said the temperature must be lowered.
“Both of us share a view wanting to see a de-escalation of conflict, wanting to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy,” he told reporters in Calgary on Monday, Australian time.
“I have expressed before our concern about Iran gaining the capacity of nuclear weapons as something that is a threat to security in the region.
“But we, along with other like-minded countries, do want to see that priority on dialogue and diplomacy.”
Iran’s health ministry said 224 people have been killed in the attacks since Friday.
Spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said on social media that 1277 other people were hospitalised, and asserted that more than 90 per cent of the casualties were civilians.
Israeli rescue teams combed through the rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Iranian missiles on Sunday, using sniffer dogs and heavy excavators to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, raising the two-day toll to 13.
The conflict has led to warnings that fuel prices in Australia will rise, with Mr Albanese saying the federal government was monitoring the situation.
Defence Minister Richard Marles acknowledged the spike in world oil prices due to the Iran-Israel conflict.
“Already, we have seen over the course of the last few days, the global oil price go up and it’s the inevitable consequence of any conflict,” he told ABC TV.
“We saw this with the war in Ukraine, that does disrupt global supply chains and that has an economic impact around the world.”
Mr Marles said Australian diplomatic staff in Iran and Israel have all been accounted for, as have military personnel in the region.
He reiterated safety warnings to Australians in the Middle East, with the situation remaining volatile.
“There are actually thousands of Australians who are in both Iran and Israel, the travel advice for both Israel and Iran right now is do not travel,” he told ABC Radio.
“Our diplomats who are engaged, who are in both our embassies in Tehran and Tel Aviv, are safe and are all accounted for, but we will continue to monitor their safety.”
Despite the calls for de-escalation, Liberal senator Andrew Bragg said Israel was doing the world a favour, given Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism.
“If we were in Israel’s shoes, we would not tolerate a country nearby us getting a nuclear weapon,” he told Today.
“And so I think Israel is trying to stop that from happening – that’s a good thing for humanity, because these guys are the worst regime anywhere on the planet.”
Mr Marles said Israel had a “right to self defence” following the attacks.
“We understand the risk that the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile program represents, but right now the focus has to be on diplomacy and dialogue,” he said.
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