Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed US President Donald Trump has not asked for Australia’s assistance to block the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has launched a sweeping blockade of the critical oil chokepoint after US peace talks with Iran collapsed on the weekend.
The blockade is expected to come into effect from midnight AEST.
‘Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,’ he wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday US time.
Albanese confirmed that Australia will not join the US blockade of the key trade route, which until recently carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies.
‘We’ve received no requests … they’ve made this announcement overnight and they’ve done that in a unilateral way,’ he told Nine’s Today Show on Monday.
‘We haven’t been asked, and I don’t expect that we will be.’
It comes after Trump last week listed Australia among the US allies over their lack of assistance during the ongoing Middle East conflict.
‘The requests we’ve received were for support for Gulf countries, particularly the UAE and that’s why we sent our Wedgetail aircraft that’s been doing amazing work,’ Albanese said.
Anthony Albanese has confirmed that Australia will not join the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz
US President Donald Trump has launched a sweeping blockade of the critical oil chokepoint after US peace talks with Iran collapsed on the weekend
‘We have extended the period in which they’ll be in the Middle East for another four weeks, and they’ve provided important defensive capacity for people who aren’t participants in this conflict but have been victims of it.’
Albanese was asked whether Australia had the capacity to provide assistance as he reiterated calls for negotiations to resume to end the ongoing conflict.
‘Well, this is the US making this decision that they have. What we want is for negotiations to resume,’ he said.
‘We want to see an end to the loss of life and the loss of infrastructure in the Middle East.
‘And we want to see trade resume. This is having a massive global economic impact, not just on Australia. Every single country is being impacted.’
Albanese said the conflict had ‘a massive impact on global inflation’, pointing out that countries such as the Philippines and Sri Lanka were enforcing four-day work weeks to combat fuel shortages.
‘We want to see sensible solutions going forward because of the impact that it’s having,’ he said.
Resources Minister Madeleine King said the American blockade presented a challenge to international trade at a time when de-escalation was sorely needed.
The Strait of Hormuz blockade is expected to come into effect from midnight AEST
‘That poses a very difficult position for global trade,’ she told ABC’s AM Breakfast.
‘Really, the best thing Australia can do is encourage that both parties go back to the negotiating table.’
Environment Minister Murray Watt told ABC Radio: ‘We think that any action that anyone takes that risks escalating this conflict is a bad thing for the world.
‘We’ve already seen thousands of lives lost throughout this conflict, not to mention, of course, the very real pain that it’s imposing on Australian consumers and right around the world.’
