Australia should not participate in any United States led military action against Iran.

Not only would a military action against Iran be costly, redirecting funds from our vital services, infrastructure and communities here in Australia, it will undoubtedly claim the lives of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen - all for a war that will not make us safer and paint us as a target for stateless terror threats.

Current tensions are the direct result of provocations from the Trump administration, whose claims of a nuclear threat from Iran are baseless and run contrary to the routine audits of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who have found Iran compliant with the conditions of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (aka The Iran Nuclear Deal) [1]. The deal (also signed by China, France, Germany & the EU) has been violated by the United States, who have implemented strangling economic sanctions on the nation and ignored recommendations from the United Nations International Court of Justice to cease [2]. Meanwhile, Iran and Australia have a significant two-way trading relationship, worth $A584 million in the last financial year.

False narratives have baited Australia into disastrous, illegal wars such as Vietnam and Iraq in the past. Without an authorising resolution from the United Nations Security Council, any military action against Iran would also be illegal, and orders of magnitude more destructive.

This petition demands that our representatives discuss the rising tensions between Iran and the United States in parliament, developing a strategy for de-escalation, and implores that we learn from our past mistakes in blindly supporting the US/Australian alliance at any cost.

[1] https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/19/06/gov2019-21.pdf
[2] https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKCN1MD2CP-OCATP

Further reading:
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/paul-barratt-australia-should-not-participate-in-conflict-with-iran/