Australia's Middle East Crisis: Repatriation, Defense & Iran Nukes

0:00In Adelaide, it's March 1st. Here's what is happening. Foreign Minister Penny Wong says about 115,000 Australians are in the Middle East right now amid the escalating conflict. The government is holding off on special repatriation flights until commercial services to Keyhub's restart. Flights have been grounded since the trouble began over the weekend. To help, officials expanded an online portal for updates and registration. It now covers the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, on top of Iran and Israel. People there can sign up for timely advice on getting home safely. Tasmanian Senator JockeyLamby called the situation a wake-up call for Australia's defenses. She wants more missiles and drones in our forces to handle potential threats. Still, she stressed Australia should stay out of the fighting. Meanwhile, Wong made clear the government had no role in recent United States and Israel strikes on Iran. She said those countries need to justify the legal grounds based on their own intelligence.

1:00Australia backs efforts to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Wong has not yet talked with her United States counterpart. She noted President Donald Trump mentioned new Iranian leaders reaching out and hopes that leads to real talk soon. This story is made possible by our sponsor, see the episode description. No earbuds, no headbands, no awkward sleeping positions, just a pillow that plays your sound, S-O-L-I solely pillow dot com.