In Tokyo, the news broke in the early hours of Sunday morning, rippling across every screen in every language: the United States had launched what its own military described as "the largest regional concentration of American military firepower in a generation" against Iran. By the time Australians sat down for breakfast, their Prime Minister had placed Australia squarely in the coalition's corner, in a foreign policy call with consequences that will be felt well beyond the Middle East.
US Central Command released footage on 28 February showing Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from naval vessels, F/A-18 and F-35 fighter jets taking off from carrier decks, and aerial footage of strikes hitting five categories of target across Iran. The assault began at 1:15 a.m. local time, with the stated goal of knocking out "the Iranian regime's security apparatus, prioritising locations that posed an imminent threat." Primary targets included Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, Iranian air defence capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields. The operation was given the name Epic Fury on the American side and Roaring Lion by Israel.
The United States deployed an array of weaponry, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, stealth fighters, and, for the first time in combat, low-cost one-way attack drones modelled after Iranian designs. The operation also saw the first combat use of the US military's new autonomous kamikaze drone, the Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS, a one-way attack drone reverse-engineered from the Iranian Shahed-136.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had ruled the Islamic Republic for more than three decades, was killed after his compound was reduced to rubble, a senior Israeli official confirmed. A senior Israeli official also told Reuters that Khamenei was killed in the strike; President Trump later confirmed it in a Truth Social post. Iran's top security official, Ali Larijani, subsequently announced a temporary leadership council.
For Canberra, the crisis arrived with particular domestic weight. Iran had directed at least two attacks on Australian soil in 2024, targeting Australia's Jewish community in acts intended to "create fear, divide our society and challenge our sovereignty." In response, Australia had already taken the unprecedented step of expelling Iran's ambassador, suspending operations at its embassy in Tehran, and listing the IRGC as a state sponsor of terrorism. The government had also sanctioned more than 200 Iranian-linked individuals, including more than 100 linked to the IRGC.
Against that backdrop, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese issued a firm statement of support. Speaking at a press conference, he described Khamenei as responsible for orchestrating attacks on Australian soil and offered a blunt assessment of the late leader's legacy. "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was responsible for the regime's ballistic missile and nuclear program, support for armed proxies and its brutal acts of violence and intimidation against its own people," Albanese said. "He was responsible for orchestrating attacks on Australian soil. His passing will not be mourned."
"The world has long agreed that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon," Albanese said. "And we support action to prevent that. That is what this is. The US action was directed at specific sites central to Iran's nuclear program." He was careful to distinguish support for the objective from any direct Australian military participation, stating clearly that this was "unilateral action taken by the United States" when asked about Australia's operational involvement, including the possible use of joint facilities such as Pine Gap.
Australia upgraded its travel advice for Israel and Lebanon to "Do Not Travel", urging Australians to leave immediately if it was safe to do so. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade activated its Crisis Centre to provide consular support to Australians in the region. According to 7News, Australians with loved ones in the Middle East were urged to act without delay.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor offered unambiguous support from the Coalition benches. In a post on X, he described the Iranian regime as "authoritarian, antisemitic and abhorrent," adding that it "wants nuclear weapons, seeks the destruction of Israel, has encouraged terrorism through its proxies, and has supplied weapons to Russia to support Putin's invasion of Ukraine," as reported by 9News.
That bipartisan consensus, however, does not extend to the whole of Australian public life. International legal authorities issued a sharp rebuke to the Australian government for its endorsement of the strikes, arguing that Canberra's stance effectively supports an illegal act of aggression that weakens the foundational principles of the post-1945 international order. Professor Ben Saul, a United Nations special rapporteur and expert at the University of Sydney, stated that the attacks represent a clear breach of the United Nations Charter's prohibition on the use of force. "When countries like Australia roll over and support this kind of illegal aggression, that's the worst thing, in terms of contributing to the erosion of international law," Professor Saul declared.
Internal dissent within the Labor party also surfaced. The Labor Against War group, with former senator Doug Cameron as patron, lambasted the government's stance, with Cameron stating that Albanese's backing "shows that we are completely devoid of acting independently."
When pressed on the specific legal basis for the strikes, both Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Albanese deferred to Washington and Jerusalem. "I will leave it for the United States and Israel to speak of the legal basis for the attacks," Wong said. The restraint points to the inherent difficulty for a middle power seeking to honour alliance obligations while preserving credibility as an advocate for international law.
The economic stakes are real and immediate. Market watchers see oil prices surging as fears mount over disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant share of Australia's liquid fuel supply transits. Analysts have suggested that if the conflict lingers, Australians could see petrol prices surge past $2.50 per litre by the end of the week, with the Treasurer already indicating the government is monitoring the situation.
The broader international picture is divided. European leaders largely called for restraint and diplomacy to avoid further escalation. Russia's Foreign Ministry called the attack "a preplanned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent UN member state." China said it was "highly concerned" and called for the military action to stop. By contrast, Australia and Canada expressed open support for the US strikes.
What Australia is navigating here is a tension that will outlast this crisis: the pull of alliance solidarity on one side, and the requirements of a rules-based international order on the other. Both values matter to Australian strategic culture. The Albanese government has bet that the threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran outweighs the legal and diplomatic costs of backing pre-emptive force. That is not an unreasonable judgement, given Iran's documented record of targeting Australian soil. But it is a judgement that carries long-term consequences for how Australia positions itself in an era when the rules-based order is already under strain from multiple directions. Reasonable people, including some within Labor's own ranks, will continue to disagree about where that line sits. The task now, as the smoke clears over Tehran, is to press for genuine international oversight of any nuclear transition and to push hard for a diplomatic pathway before this conflict claims further lives on all sides. Australia's voice will carry more weight in that effort if it is seen to be principled, not merely reflexive.