Anthony Albanese offers cautious support for Donald Trump’s assertion Iran war ‘nearing completion’

The Prime Minister has cautiously backed Donald Trump’s declaration that the war in the Middle East is “nearing completion” and repeated his own calls for a de-escalation of the conflict with Iran.

Appearing at the National Press Club just minutes after the US President delivered his own address from the White House, Mr Albanese has also been quizzed about criticism of western nations such as Australia for not helping open the Strait of Hormuz.

“It’s a bit hard to comment on President Trump’s statement, which was, I think, done in part while I was sitting up here. But my position, I’ve made very clear, which is, we do want to see a de-escalation,” Mr Albanese said.

“As I said in my speech, the objectives that President Trump outlined at the time of him launching the action against Iran have largely been achieved, and we want to see a de-escalation.”

When pressed on whether it was a welcome sign Mr Trump was claiming the US war was “nearing completion”, the Prime Minister said the assessment was “totally consistent with what we are seeing”.

During his White House address on Wednesday evening Washington time, Mr Trump again demanded allies, including Australia, do more to free up the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran is preventing some cargo vessels from transiting through.

“They must grab it and cherish it. They can do it easily. We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on,” President Trump said.

“Build up some delayed courage. Should have done it before. Should have done it with us, as we asked. Go to the Strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves. Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done, so it should be easy,” he added.

Questioned repeatedly about President Trump’s recent hectoring of allies and whether it was hurting public support for AUKUS, Mr Albanese declined to criticise the US President, and insisted he still worked constructively with him.

“My job as Australian Prime Minister is to develop relationships with world leaders. That’s what I do, and that is what I have done. With some scepticism from some of your colleagues over whether I could do that or not, we’re able to talk,” Mr Albanese told a packed audience at the National Press Club.

“We’ve had three face-to-face engagements, multiple phone calls. That’s important because it’s in Australia’s national interest.

“My government is really proud that we have cemented our relationships with our traditional partners, the United States and the United Kingdom.

“But we haven’t said that’s enough. We actually recognise we’ve repaired the relationship with China.

“We have strengthened the relationships with ASEAN nations, cemented the ties with our North Asia trading partners, South Korea and Japan, as well as the role that we’re playing in the Pacific Island Forum and looking towards the emerging superpowers, India and Indonesia, for the opportunities that that presents.”

Mr Albanese also declined to comment on Mr Trump’s suggested timeline of another two to three weeks of strikes against Iran, but again stressed the President needed to provide greater clarity of his objectives.

“We need to account for what the end-point is here and what the objectives are, and that the objectives that were originally put forward by President Trump, I think, have largely been realised”.