“This destabilizing behaviour is a threat to Australia’s interests in the region,” Morrison told a news conference in Canberra.“The government has decided that it is in Australia’s national interest to work with our international partners to contribute. Our contribution will be limited in scope and it will be time-bound,” he said.
Australia’s deployment will expand U.S-led efforts to secure the strait, which lies between Oman and Iran, after tensions spiked between Iran and the West. However, European countries, which disagree with a U.S. decision to impose sanctions on Iran, have been reluctant to sign up to a U.S.-led mission for fear of adding to tension in the region.
Trump then applied widespread sanctions in May designed to block all of Iran’s oil exports, the lifeblood of Tehran’s economy. Iranian officials denounced the new penalties as “economic warfare”.Canberra, although keen to avoid stoking tensions, was widely expected to join the U.S.-led maritime coalition.