The Hon Anthony Albanese MP
Prime Minister of Australia
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

CC: The Hon Angus Taylor MP
Leader of the Opposition

Dear Prime Minister

We write as members of the Australian-Iranian community to express our deep and urgent concern regarding recent statements by President Trump indicating the possible targeting of Iran’s power plants and other civilian infrastructure.

Iran is not the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s civilian infrastructure belongs to the Iranian people and to the future of a free Iran.

It is the foundation upon which any post-regime recovery, stability, and democratic transition will depend. 

By contrast, the Islamic Republic’s infrastructure of power lies in its apparatus of repression, the institutions and networks used to surveil, silence, and terrorise its own people, and to export violence, sponsor terrorism, and destabilise other nations.

Iran must be protected. The regime must be dismantled.

These are not contradictory objectives, but they require precision, clarity, and adherence to fundamental principles of international law, including the protection of civilian objects and infrastructure.

Targeting civilian infrastructure is a clear breach of international law.

In this context, we respectfully and urgently call on the Australian Government to:

• Engage with the United States and Israel at the highest levels to urge that any actions remain strictly targeted at the regime and its apparatus of repression, while sparing the civilian infrastructure that Iranians will need to rebuild their country;

• Publicly and unequivocally affirm that the targeting of civilian infrastructure is unacceptable and inconsistent with international humanitarian law;

• Reinforce Australia’s commitment to the protection of civilian populations in all circumstances, including in Iran.

At this critical moment, the distinction between a nation and the regime that governs it must be clearly upheld.

With the support of the international community, and above all the courage and sacrifice of the Iranian people themselves, the prospect of a free Iran is no longer abstract, but imminent. 

That future must not be undermined by actions that destroy the very foundations upon which it depends.