Updated ,first published
Washington: Two Australians were onboard the nuclear-powered US submarine that was responsible for sinking an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka, a revelation that comes as prospects of a ground assault on Iranian forces intensify.
The Australian Defence Department said on Thursday that Australian sailors were involved in the naval action on the Indian Ocean. This masthead understands two Australians are on board the American submarine as part of an AUKUS training rotation.
The Iranian frigate, IRIS Dena, was heading back to Iran after taking part in joint military exercises off India’s eastern coast when it was attacked on Wednesday.
The Defence Department refused to identify the rank or role of the Australians on the submarine.
“There are long-standing arrangements relating to third-country deployments to ensure Australian interests are managed appropriately,” it said.
“It is not appropriate to go into these details. For operational security reasons, the Australian Defence Force does not disclose specific details regarding third-country deployments, including the number of personnel or their location.”
With more than 100,000 Australians in the Middle East, including 24,000 in the UAE, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in question time on Thursday that Australia had deployed military assets as a contingency amid the ongoing conflict, while adding that the fastest way for Australians to get out was commercial flights.
The contingency measure outlined by the prime minister includes the deployment of a C-17A Globemaster heavy transport aircraft and a KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport to the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Kurdish forces on the Iran-Iraq border are preparing to join the war against the Iranian regime in a move that would open up a new ground-based front and broaden a conflict that is now entering its sixth day and has killed an estimated 1100 people.
Resistance groups in northern Iraq are reportedly on standby and have been in contact with US officials, while the White House confirmed President Donald Trump had contacted Kurdish leaders – though it denied he had agreed to any military plan.
The possibility of Kurds once again joining an American campaign in the Middle East also comes as the US Senate gave Trump a green light to continue the Iran mission, voting down a resolution to constrain his ability to order further strikes without congressional approval.
During the vote, which was largely along party lines, Democrats expressed fears the US would be drawn into putting American boots on the ground – something Trump says is unlikely but has explicitly not ruled out.
“Regime change can’t be accomplished at 30,000 feet. It takes boots on the ground,” said Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal, who is on the armed services committee. “My fear, and it’s growing, is that we will have American troops on the ground, if the objective continues to be regime change.”
US officials said the air force now had almost total control over Iranian skies, allowing the operation to move into a new phase in which overhead guided bombs could be dropped on targets, rather than fired from afar.
The Kurds have been reliable US allies in the region, fighting against Islamic State in Syria, and in the 2003 war in Iraq – although they have often felt abandoned or betrayed by Washington in return.
Khalil Nadiri, an official with the Kurdistan Freedom Party, told the Associated Press that some of the group’s forces had moved into areas near the Iranian border in Sulaymaniyah province and were on standby. He said Kurdish leaders were contacted by US officials “regarding a potential operation”, but he did not provide more details, AP reported.
There were conflicting reports about whether Kurdish fighters had already begun ground activity inside Iran.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was “completely false” that Trump had agreed to any plan involving Kurdish forces, but confirmed he had spoken to Kurdish leaders about a base in northern Iraq. Like Trump, she did not rule out US troops on the ground in Iran, but said it was not part of the current plan.
The US and Israel continued to strike Iranian targets overnight into Thursday (Iran time), while the regime announced that a state funeral for assassinated supreme leader Ali Khamenei would be postponed, blaming additional preparations needed for the “unprecedented turnout”, according to state-run media.
Lebanon’s state news agency said an Israeli drone strike targeted a vehicle on a coastal highway in southern Lebanon, killing three people. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said another two people were killed by an Israeli strike on a building inside a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli, north of Beirut. The death toll from Israeli attacks in Lebanon was now 70, the ministry said.
Tehran also continued to fire missiles at regional neighbours including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, though in lesser numbers. US Central Command, which is in charge of the American operation, said Iranian missile launches had dropped 86 per cent, and drone launches were down 73 per cent.
Turkey’s Defence Ministry said NATO air and missile defences shot down an Iranian ballistic missile in the eastern Mediterranean that had been heading towards Turkish airspace.
The US State Department said its first charter flight for American citizens left the Middle East on Wednesday (US time), with additional flights to be provided.
Meanwhile, the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations said an oil tanker off Kuwait reported a large explosion on its port side and was taking on water. The possible attack is much further north in the Persian Gulf than the Strait of Hormuz, where previous drone attacks have occurred.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday (US time) confirmed the Americans were responsible for the successful attack on the Iranian frigate. It was the first time the US Navy had sunk an enemy warship using a torpedo since the Second World War, he said.
Reuters reported Sri Lankan authorities had recovered at least 87 bodies from the water and taken 32 people to hospitals, while another 60 people were missing.
Hegseth repeated that American forces were operating under their own rules of engagement, or what he called “maximum authorities” that had been personally granted by Trump and himself.
“America is winning – decisively, devastatingly and without mercy. They [Iran] are toast, and they know it,” he said. “This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it isn’t. We are punching them while they are down.”
Despite several days passing since an Iranian girls’ school was hit amid the initial strikes – killing at least 165 students, according to Iranian authorities – Hegseth declined to provide any more information about who was responsible. “All I can say is that we’re investigating that,” he said, adding that the US never targets civilians.
In the US and elsewhere, debate has continued to rage about the impetus for and timing of the military action, and what role Israel played in Trump’s decision to jettison negotiations and strike.
Leavitt confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tipped off Trump that Iran’s senior leaders were to gather in one place last Saturday morning, providing an opportunity to severely wound the regime.
She said the tip was important in the timing of the strikes, but that Trump already had a “feeling” Iran was going to strike US assets, and was preparing pre-emptive action.
At a White House function, Trump appeared to confirm pre-emptive defence of Israel was part of his motivation. “For years they’ve been killing our people and killing people from all over the world,” he said. “I think if we didn’t do it first, they would have done it to Israel, and give us a shot if that was possible.”
Israeli Defence Force spokesman Nadav Shoshani told British broadcaster Piers Morgan it was “completely false” to suggest Israel forced Trump’s hand.
“As someone who’s been in the rooms … knowing what’s been happening in recent weeks and months, it has no relation to reality,” he said. “This is a joint operation with shared interests, shared values, shared enemy.”
The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, lashed out at Trump on social media, calling him “clownish” and suggesting he was acting at the behest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He falsely claimed 500 American troops were killed in the war’s first few days; the US says six service members have died.
“Trump has dragged the American people into an unjust war with Iran as a result of Netanyahu’s vile impulses and his clownish actions,” Larijani wrote on X. “Is the slogan still ‘America First’, or has it become ‘Israel First’?”
Those comments tapped directly into arguments made in parts of Trump’s domestic political base, where there is deep scepticism about the intervention in Iran and US support for Israel.
There has been speculation that Trump could seek to make a deal to put Larijani in power, although the 67-year-old son of a cleric has denied this and said Iran would not negotiate with the US.
Larijani’s comments came as prominent MAGA commentators targeted Trump using similar rhetoric.
Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News host who now has the sixth most popular podcast in the US according to Spotify, told listeners the war was not designed to make America safer.
“This happened because Israel wanted it to happen. This is Israel’s war, this is not the United States’ war,” he said on The Tucker Carlson Show. “The United States committed troops to this conflict because the prime minister of Israel demanded it.”
With AP, Reuters
Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.
Andrew Probyn is Nine Network’s national affairs editor, working out of the Federal bureau.Connect via X.
