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Anti-war networks and progressive parties have urged the federal Coalition not to support the Donald Trump administration’s latest attack on Iran, that began with the illegal assassination in Iraq of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and deputy commander of the Iraqi government-affiliated Popular Mobilisation Forces Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on January 3.

A spokesperson for Independent and Peaceful Australia Network Nick Deane called for the Australian frigate HMAS Toowoomba which is on its way to the Straits of Hormuz to be halted, saying on January 8 that it sent a message to the world that Australia supports US hostility.

“Prime Minister [Scott] Morrison has justified sending the warship to Iran as ‘guarding oil supplies’. In fact, the greatest threat to trade in the region is the very real threat of war.”

Sydney Stop the War Coalition spokesperson Hector Ramage said: “It is not in Australia’s interests to go along with the Trump administration’s ‘regime change’ agenda. A war by the US on Iran would have devastating consequences for all the people of the region.”

The Trump administration is making the world a more dangerous place, Ramage said, “starting with its globally deplored withdrawal from the JCPOA [Iran nuclear deal] in 2015. Since then the US has been keen to wreck any diplomatic path to a ��é�ٱ�Գٱ� in the region.

“The Australian government must do everything it can to check US aggression, including, at a minimum, ruling out any role in a US war on Iran, withdrawing the HMAS Toowoomba from the Strait of Hormuz and the Australian troops stationed in Iraq.”

Dean said that the Australian government “must learn lessons from the Iraq invasion”, in which millions were killed and displaced. “War with Iran has the potential to be far worse than war with Iraq, given the capacity of the Iranian military,” Dean said.

Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale condemned the US assassination, calling it a “breach of international law” for which there can be “no justification”. He called on the Coalition government and Labor opposition to join the Greens in condemning the US moves to war. 

Socialist Alliance spokesperson Alex Bainbridge said on January 8 that Australia must immediately withdraw the 300 troops and military equipment from Iraq and the Persian Gulf and refuse to support the US.

While the Socialist Alliance “unequivocally” condemns the recent US military strikes in Iraq, Bainbridge said that this was not an endorsement of the policies of the regimes or their military forces.

“The results of a war between the Western imperialist powers and a significant regional power are unpredictable, but would pose an extreme threat to the safety the entire world”, Bainbridge said. He added that Australia must also withdraw from ANZUS and demand that the US remove all its military facilities and troops from Australia.