Australian military plane to join efforts to reopen strait of Hormuz, as Marles leaves door open to sending more assets

Australia will send a hi-tech military plane to join an international mission to reopen the strait of Hormuz, but the Labor government has not ruled out sending more assets to the Middle East. The defence minister, Richard Marles, joined an overnight meeting of defence ministers from 40 other countries, to discuss global efforts to reopen the key shipping channel off the Iranian coastline, which has been closed or heavily restricted since the beginning of the US-Israel assault in February. Marles said the meeting had resolved to back “collective diplomatic, economic and military capabilities to support freedom of navigation through the strait of Hormuz”. “Australia stands ready to support an independent and strictly defensive multinational military mission, led by the United Kingdom and France, once it is established,” Marles said. “Our intention is to contribute Australia’s world-leading E-7A Wedgetail aircraft to this defensive effort.” Later on Wednesday, Marles told parliament that Australia would continue speaking with the UK and France “about how else we can contribute” to the mission. The Wedgetail – which is accompanied by approximately 85 Australian defence force staff – had been deployed to the United Arab Emirates in March , in what the Australian government said was a defensive capacity to help protect Gulf nations from Iranian attacks. …