Australia joins US mission in Strait of Hormuz amid rising tensions with Iran

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australia will send a frigate, a P8 maritime surveillance aircraft and support staff to the US-led mission

The US had asked Australia for help in patrolling the strategic shipping lane after a number of incidents involving Iran, including the seizure of ships

Reading Time:2 minutes

Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Toowoomba. Photo: AP

Published: 11:41am, 21 Aug 2019Updated: 9:17pm, 21 Aug 2019

Australia will join the United States in a security mission to protect merchant vessels travelling through key Middle East waterways after Iran seized a British-flagged vessel, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday.

Britain this month became the first US ally to announce its participation, having previously called for a European-led naval mission.

Foremost among the areas to be patrolled is the Strait of Hormuz, between Oman and Iran, through which about one-fifth of the world’s seaborne crude flows out of the Gulf.

Guided missile frigate HMAS Darwin. Photo: Handout

Global commodity trading has been rocked in recent months by the seizure of the British tanker and a series of attacks on international merchant vessels that the US and Britain have blamed on Iran, though it denies involvement.

“This destabilising behaviour is a threat to Australia’s interests in the region,” Morrison told a news conference in Canberra.