2026-03-06
Prime Minister Albanese has finally admitted that there were three Australians on the US nuclear submarines that sank an Iranian frigate in International waters off Sri Lanka.
The IRIS Dena, an Iranian frigate, was returning from India when a US nuclear-powered attack submarine shot a torpedo and sank the vessel off the coast of Sri Lanka in international waters. The US, and the Australian crew members, then left the crew to drown.
These actions were in breach of the Second Geneva Convention, which requires, after a maritime engagement, parties to immediately search for and collect the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked.
The Albanese Government has been lying to the Australian public about its role in the illegal US and Israeli war in Iran. Those lies have consequences and have already implicated Australia in US war crimes.
Senator David Shoebridge, Greens spokesperson on Defence and Foreign Affairs, said
“This was an inevitability of AUKUS. From the start, the Greens warned the Government that AUKUS would chain us to the US military and drag us into whatever war they chose. That is what is happening now in real time.
“We know there are a minimum of 50 Australian personnel on US nuclear attack-class submarines, mostly operating in the Indo-Pacific. Albanese, after questioning from the Greens, has finally confirmed that it includes three Australian troops on the US submarine that sank the Iranian vessel.
“The Albanese Labor Government was the first in the world to back Trump and Netanyahu's illegal war in Iran. The truth is, the decision to enter this latest US war wasn’t made when the bombing began this week, it was made years ago when Labor backed in AUKUS.
“This is about a lot more than three ADF personnel on one US submarine. Australia has a host of US military bases and deployments, including Pine Gap and multiple RAAF bases open to the US military.
“For the Prime Minister, in the same breath, to admit Australian personnel were serving on the US nuclear submarine when it sank the Iranian frigate and then that Australia is not involved in the war shows how little regard he has for the intelligence of the Australian people.
“The Iranian people have suffered for decades under a brutal regime, they are now suffering under that regime as well as from Israeli and US bombs and missiles.
“The war parties, Labor, Liberal and One Nation have led us down this dangerous path, and the only way back is to end AUKUS and rethink our defence and foreign policy so that we are not a permanent hostage to the US.”