{"id":81907,"date":"2023-08-25T06:00:05","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T20:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=81907"},"modified":"2023-08-24T21:17:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T11:17:28","slug":"australia-must-do-more-about-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia must do more about Iran\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The government\u2019s sudden decision to refer to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza as \u2018occupied Palestinian territories\u2019 is in marked contrast to its relative silence on Iran and other issues in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The decision follows the government\u2019s refusal<\/a>\u00a0to sign on to a\u00a0quite moderate<\/a>\u00a0June 2022 US-led statement, endorsed by 22 other countries including the UK, Germany and Canada, criticising the UN Human Rights Council\u2019s plan for a commission of inquiry<\/a> on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. The statement noted\u00a0that this was a \u2018further demonstration of long-standing, disproportionate attention given to Israel\u2019 at the UN. However, at the same time, Australia did deliver a statement<\/a> at the council expressing fundamental concerns about the commission of inquiry. It reiterated those concerns <\/a>at the council\u2019s June 2023 session.<\/p>\n

In October 2022, Labor reversed<\/a>\u00a0the previous government\u2019s position recognising West Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital. Foreign Minister Penny Wong told the parliament<\/a>: \u2018Today the Government has reaffirmed Australia\u2019s previous and longstanding position that Jerusalem is a final status issue that should be resolved as part of any peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian people.\u2019 Wong also said: \u2018We’ve rebalanced Australia’s positions in international forums while opposing anti-Israel bias in the UN.\u2019<\/p>\n

This has been contradicted by the government\u2019s recognition of East Jerusalem, along with the West Bank, as \u2018occupied Palestinian territory\u2019.<\/p>\n

Gaza, meanwhile, has not had a physical Israeli presence since 2005 and it has been ruled by Hamas, which has been regarded by Australia as a terrorist entity for financial sanctions <\/a>since 2001 as part of implementing UN Security Council resolution 1373. It should therefore not be considered \u2018occupied\u2019. Moreover, none of the territories in question\u00a0have ever been part of any Palestinian state, so referring to them as occupied Palestinian territory is objectively incorrect.<\/p>\n

Apart from its criticism of Israel, the government says little about other issues and countries in the Middle East. There\u2019s the slight exception of Iran, but even there Australia\u2019s response falls short.<\/p>\n

Australia has long maintained autonomous sanctions<\/a> on Iran and has upheld multilateral sanctions. Wong used Australia\u2019s Magnitsky powers to impose thematic (human rights) sanctions against Iranian individuals and entities\u2014long after the US, Canada, the UK and EU had begun doing so\u2014in December 2022<\/a>, in February this year<\/a> and again in March.<\/a><\/p>\n

It also took Australia substantially longer than most of its allies to\u00a0condemn Iran<\/a>\u00a0or impose sanctions against it for supplying drones and other weapons to Russia for its attack on Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Australia applied its first Russia-related sanctions against Iran last December. It then\u00a0lagged<\/a>\u00a0on further sanctions again until a February report by the Senate\u2019s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee into the human rights implications of recent violence in Iran was due. The report said it was unfortunate that Australia lagged behind other nations in responding with action, and the committee urged the government to be \u2018unequivocal in its response to violence and human rights abuses in Iran\u2019. In March, the government\u00a0imposed<\/a>\u00a0a third package of sanctions on Iran for human rights abuses and its support for Russia.<\/p>\n

Since then, the\u00a0UK<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0EU<\/a>\u00a0have developed new sanctions regimes targeting Iran and, alongside\u00a0Canada<\/a>\u00a0and the US, have continued to impose progressively heavier sanctions on Iranian individuals and entities nearly every month.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s government has not criticised any action by Iran<\/a>\u00a0since the foreign minister condemned the 19 May execution of\u00a0 Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaqoubi and Saleh Mirhashemi. Iran has\u00a0reportedly hanged<\/a>\u00a0at least 423 people since the start of 2023 and its \u2018morality police\u2019 have returned to arresting women<\/a>\u00a0for not wearing their hijabs \u2018properly\u2019.<\/p>\n

Australia\u00a0summoned<\/a>\u00a0or spoke to the Iranian charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires by phone 10 times between late September 2022 and early January 2023. It may have taken similar action since, but it\u2019s unclear why it has taken such a low-key approach and not gone along with our allies\u2019 sanctions and condemnations as Iran has doubled down on its human rights abuses, regional destabilisation, foreign interference and support for Russia.<\/p>\n

The government has had little to say about events in the Middle East outside of Israel and Iran even though 2022\u201323 has seen overwhelming regional shifts. In addition, an Australian citizen, Robert Pether, remains\u00a0unjustly jailed<\/a>\u00a0in Iraq, something that ought to warrant a statement.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, pressure has been maintained on Israel despite the Palestinian leadership\u2019s longstanding refusal to accept two-state peace offers or, in recent years, even to engage in negotiations on the subject.<\/p>\n

Instead of focusing solely on Israeli\u2013Palestinian issues, Australian pressure should also be directed towards the Iranian regime over its piracy, terrorism, nuclear program, regional destabilisation, weapons proliferation and material support for Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government\u2019s sudden decision to refer to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza as \u2018occupied Palestinian territories\u2019 is in marked contrast to its relative silence on Iran and other issues in the Middle …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":968,"featured_media":81909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[416,285,247,240,218],"class_list":["post-81907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-government","tag-foreign-policy","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-middle-east"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralia must do more about Iran\u00a0 | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia must do more about Iran\u00a0 | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The government\u2019s sudden decision to refer to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza as \u2018occupied Palestinian territories\u2019 is in marked contrast to its relative silence on Iran and other issues in the Middle ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-24T20:00:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-24T11:17:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/GettyImages-1247017142.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Oved Lobel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Oved Lobel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/GettyImages-1247017142.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/GettyImages-1247017142.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"TEHRAN, IRAN - FEBRUARY 11: Iranian defence missiles and unmanned air vehicles are displayed an event marking the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi (Freedom) square in Tehran, Iran, on February 11, 2023. The events mark the 44th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, which came ten days after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's return from his exile in Paris to Iran, toppling the monarchy system and forming the Islamic Republic. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/\",\"name\":\"Australia must do more about Iran\u00a0 | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-24T20:00:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-24T11:17:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/e83d2c331b7776aff680a7eaa512ce69\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Australia must do more about Iran\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/e83d2c331b7776aff680a7eaa512ce69\",\"name\":\"Oved Lobel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b84d8cb035dd261d28237aa95b3da886?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b84d8cb035dd261d28237aa95b3da886?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Oved Lobel\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/oved-lobel\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Australia must do more about Iran\u00a0 | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Australia must do more about Iran\u00a0 | The Strategist","og_description":"The government\u2019s sudden decision to refer to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza as \u2018occupied Palestinian territories\u2019 is in marked contrast to its relative silence on Iran and other issues in the Middle ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2023-08-24T20:00:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-08-24T11:17:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/GettyImages-1247017142.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Oved Lobel","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Oved Lobel","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/GettyImages-1247017142.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/GettyImages-1247017142.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"caption":"TEHRAN, IRAN - FEBRUARY 11: Iranian defence missiles and unmanned air vehicles are displayed an event marking the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi (Freedom) square in Tehran, Iran, on February 11, 2023. The events mark the 44th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, which came ten days after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's return from his exile in Paris to Iran, toppling the monarchy system and forming the Islamic Republic. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/","name":"Australia must do more about Iran\u00a0 | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2023-08-24T20:00:05+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-24T11:17:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/e83d2c331b7776aff680a7eaa512ce69"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australia-must-do-more-about-iran\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Australia must do more about Iran\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/e83d2c331b7776aff680a7eaa512ce69","name":"Oved Lobel","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b84d8cb035dd261d28237aa95b3da886?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b84d8cb035dd261d28237aa95b3da886?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Oved Lobel"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/oved-lobel\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81907"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/968"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81907"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81910,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81907\/revisions\/81910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}