Australia will join the U.S.-led mission to protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions with Iran, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Wednesday.

Morrison said Australia would send a "modest" contribution -- including a frigate, a P8 maritime surveillance aircraft and support staff -- to the mission, which will also involve British and Bahraini forces.

"Our contribution will be limited in scope and it will be time-bound," Morrison said, expressing concern about security incidents in the vital shipping lane in the past few months.

"This destabilizing behavior is a threat to Australian interests in the region," he said in a joint statement with his foreign and defense ministers.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper had pressed for Australia's help patrolling the strategic waterway during a visit to Sydney earlier this month.

The move followed a spate of incidents -- including the seizure of ships -- involving Iran and Western powers, in particular Britain and the U.S., centered on the vital Gulf channel.

Defense Minister Linda Reynolds said Australian military staff would in coming weeks join the security operation's headquarters in Bahrain, which announced its involvement in the operation on Tuesday.

The P8 Poseidon aircraft will patrol the region for a month, later in the year. The frigate, with a crew of some 170, will not be deployed to the joint operation until January and take part for six months, she said.

Morrison stressed that the deployment would be "modest, meaningful and time-limited" while defense experts said it was likely a "re-tasking" of planned deployments to the region to satisfy US requests.

The U.S. had been struggling to piece together an international coalition to protect cargo ships traveling through the Gulf, with allies concerned about being dragged into conflict with Iran.

Britain eventually agreed to participate two weeks ago, and Morrison's government has debated the move since Pompeo and Esper made their direct appeal at the beginning of the month.

US President Donald Trump has been trying to mount a campaign of "maximum pressure" against Tehran since he withdrew the US from a landmark 2015 deal placing curbs on Iran's nuclear program and began reimposing sanctions, urging reluctant Western allies to follow suit.

But European countries have declined to join the maritime security force for fear of harming European efforts to rescue the nuclear treaty.

Iran has seized three tankers in strategic Gulf waters since last month, including a British-flagged vessel.

That came after British Royal Marines helped impound a tanker carrying Iranian oil off the British overseas territory of Gibraltar on July 4.

Britain suspected it was destined for Syria in defiance of European Union sanctions, which Iran denies.

The U.S. and its Gulf allies have also accused the Islamic republic of carrying out several mysterious attacks on ships in the region. Tehran has denied involvement. </s> TEHRAN - Australia has joined Great Britain and Bahrain in signing onto a U.S.-led maritime security mission that the U.S. claimed is aimed at protecting international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, but Tehran believes the real reason for it is to threaten its interests in the Persian Gulf.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday that Australia will contribute troops, a surveillance plane and a Navy frigate off the coast of Iran.

“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,” Aljazeera quoted him as saying.

Morrison said Australia will send a P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane to the Middle East for one month before the end of the year, while an Australian frigate will be deployed in January 2020 for six months.

Australia’s deployment will expand U.S.-led efforts to secure the strait, which lies between Oman and Iran, after tensions spiked between Tehran and the United States.

At least 15 percent of crude oil and up to 30 percent of refined oil destined for Australia transits through the Persian Gulf.

The friction is rooted in U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision in May 2018 to unilaterally withdraw from a landmark nuclear deal signed in 2015 between world powers and Iran.

Since then, the U.S. has reinstated sweeping sanctions against Tehran as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign and has also beefed up its military presence in the region.

The tensions escalated in May, when the U.S. accused Iran of sabotaging tankers in the shipping route, allegations vehemently denied by Iran.

UK’s Ministry of Defense announced this month that Royal Navy vessels will work alongside the U.S. Navy to escort vessels through the busy strait.

Britain has been giving UK-flagged vessels a naval escort since Iran’s Revolutionary Guard seized a British oil tanker last month. The move followed the seizing of an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Gibraltar in July by Britain.

Earlier this month, Germany ruled out participating in the U.S.-led mission, prompting a frustrated response from U.S. officials.

Last week, Iran warned Israel against supporting the mission, saying it reserved the right to confront a “clear threat”.

In June, Iran downed a U.S. military surveillance drone in the Persian Gulf with a surface-to-air missile. The drone violated Iran’s airspace. </s> FILE PHOTO: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a joint press conference at the Istana Presidential Palace in Singapore,

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia will join the United States in a coalition of countries protecting oil tankers and cargo ships from threats posed by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday.

Global commodity trading has been rocked in recent months after a series of Iranian attacks on international merchant vessels and the seizure of a British tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which almost a fifth of the world's oil passes.

"This destabilizing behavior 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.

Morrison said Australia will send a P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane to the Middle East for one month before the end of 2019, while an Australian frigate will be deployed in January 2020 for six months.

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.

Washington, which has by far the strongest Western naval contingent in the Gulf, has been calling for its allies to join it in an operation to guard shipping.

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.

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington in 2018 from an international deal to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.

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.

Australia is a staunch ally of the United States, which in recent months has called on its partners to do more to defend global security. </s> Australia has accepted an invitation from the United States to join a coalition of countries protecting oil tankers and cargo ships from attack by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison stressed Australia's involvement will be "modest, meaningful and time limited."

Australia will join a US-led coalition to protect shipping in the Straits of Hormuz. Credit:Bloomberg

"This destabilising behaviour is a threat to Australia's interests in the region," Mr Morrison said on Wednesday morning.

"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." </s> US plans maritime security coalition for Gulf as Trump tells others to contribute for security

Germany rejects US request to join naval mission in Strait of Hormuz

Australia has joined Britain and Bahrain in signing onto a U.S.-led maritime security mission to protect international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday that Australia will contribute troops, a surveillance plane and a Navy frigate to protect shipping lanes off the coast of Iran.

He says it's a "modest, meaningful and time-limited" contribution in Australia's national and economic interests.

At least 15% of crude oil and up to 30% of refined oil destined for Australia transits through the Persian Gulf.

The warship will be redirected from an anti-piracy operation in the Middle East, while the Australian troops will be based in the headquarters that are coordinating the U.S.-led maritime security mission.

Initially, Australia will be involved for at least six months.

The U.S. began the Gulf security mission in June in the wake of attacks on oil tankers that Washington blamed on Iran. </s> CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA — Australia will join a fledgling U.S.-led effort to protect ships from Iranian threats in the critical Strait of Hormuz, the country’s prime minister said Wednesday, dismissing concerns that the United States was pulling Australia once again into a faraway military intervention in the Middle East.

Oil tankers crossing the waterway came under attack in May and June, with crews forced to abandon their vessels and at least one ship set on fire. The United States has blamed Iran for the attacks, a charge that Iranian officials have rejected.

The tanker strikes came after the United States abandoned the multinational 2015 agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program and reimposed sanctions on Tehran meant to cripple its oil sales, a pillar of the Iranian economy.

So far, only two other countries have joined the United States in the ship-protection mission: Britain and Bahrain.

Britain, which hopes to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, at first hesitated to join the effort, wanting to avoid being seen as contributing to President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran. But Britain later relented, after failing to assemble a separate European coalition to protect ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in July.

Asked if Australia’s decision contributed to the U.S. pressure campaign against Iran, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said flatly that it did not.

“This is about freedom of shipping,” he said at a news conference. “They’re completely separate issues. And I think to conflate those issues would be ill-informed.”

A third of the world’s petroleum makes its way through the Strait of Hormuz, and Morrison portrayed the decision as an economic one.

“Fifteen to 16 per cent of crude oil and 25 to 30 per cent of refined oil destined for Australia transits through the Strait of Hormuz,” Morrison said. “So it is a potential threat to our economy.”

Morrison said that Australia would contribute a frigate and a surveillance aircraft, and that it would station officials at the mission’s headquarters in Bahrain.

But the assistance will be limited, Morrison said. The aircraft will not be deployed until the end of the year, he said. And the frigate, which will be stationed in the strait for six months next year, had already been headed to the Middle East for a separate mission, so it will not be diverted from any tasks closer to home in the Pacific, he added.

Morrison said he had spoken with Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and the American secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, before making the announcement.

Questioned about whether Australia was being drawn into another U.S.-led military effort in the region, Morrison pointed to Britain’s involvement as evidence of broader goals. “It’s also the U.K.’s view that this provides the opportunity for others to be involved in a multinational engagement,” he said.

Australia, a longtime ally of the United States, has fought in both Iraq and Afghanistan as part of U.S.-led coalitions, and it still has troops in both countries.

But the new commitment in the Persian Gulf comes as Australia seeks to reorient its military and diplomatic posture toward its own region again, in an attempt to temper China’s growing influence.

The tensions between Iran and the West escalated in early July when British marines and Gibraltar port officials seized an Iranian ship, saying that it was carrying oil to Syria in violation of a European Union embargo.

Iran’s detention of the British-flagged tanker last month in the Strait of Hormuz was in retaliation for that. The day before, the U.S. military had downed an Iranian drone in the strait, in what Trump called an act of self-defence.

Last week, authorities in Gibraltar released the Iranian ship and freed its crew, hours after the United States applied to seize it. </s> * Australian Defence Force personnel to be placed in the International Maritime Security Construct headquarters in Bahrain.

* A P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft will be deployed to the Middle East for one month before the end of 2019.

* An Australian Frigate will be deployed from January 2020 for six months.

* US-led mission but involve at least Australia, UK and Bahrain.

* Assuring the security of merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

* Australian government has been concerned with incidents involving shipping in the Strait of Hormuz over the past few months.

* Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the "destabilising behaviour is a threat to Australian interests in the region". </s> Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed that Australia will lend military support to protect shipping in the Middle East.

The commitment has been long expected, with Australia sending a frigate, an aircraft and some headquarters staff as part of a US-led coalition in the Strait of Hormuz, amid deepening tensions between the US and Iran.

So what is this conflict about, what is Australia’s involvement, and what are the risks associated with it?

What is the Strait of Hormuz?

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow body of ocean connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Its width varies, but at its narrowest is 39km. It is the main passage for transporting oil from the Middle East out into the Indian Ocean and beyond; a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped through this strait. This includes 15-16% of crude oil and 25-30% of refined oil that is destined for Australia.

Iran and Oman border the Strait of Hormuz. As the littoral states, they have sovereignty over the waters in the Strait of Hormuz, but that sovereignty is subject to navigational rights enjoyed by all states. Ships from all countries have the right to move continuously and expeditiously through these waters without interference from either of the coastal states.

What is the conflict between Iran and the US about?

The primary concern in relation to the Strait of Hormuz at the moment is interference with commercial shipping. The United States has accused Iran of attacks against tankers and has destroyed an Iranian drone.

In recent weeks, Iran has seized the Stena Impero, a British-flagged commercial tanker, as well as a US drone. It also boarded but released a Liberian-flagged, British-owned vessel. These actions have heightened concerns about navigational rights through the strait and the consequences for global oil supply.

This is all against a backdrop of heightened tension between Iran and the United States, resulting from American sanctions against Iran and its abandonment of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. It is the latest rift in a relationship that has been fraught for decades, punctuated by events like Iran taking over the US embassy and holding hostages in 1979, the United States backing Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, and Iran’s development of a nuclear program in the 1990s.

Shipping has previously been threatened within the Persian Gulf and along the Strait of Hormuz, especially during the Iran-Iraq war. This conflict was also known as the Tanker War because of the threats to commercial ships transporting oil out of the Gulf. It resulted in the United States and other neutral states providing naval escorts and conducting convoys to protect shipping.

Australia has announced it will be joining an “International Maritime Security Construct” that is focused on ensuring the freedom of shipping lanes and commercial navigation.

This international presence is intended to respond to incidents and threats as they occur during passage through the strait. The prime minister has announced that Australia’s involvement is limited in terms of time and resources and emphasised the importance of de-escalation.

A legal difficulty for Australia is that this sort of convoy relies on a doctrine that is associated with the law of naval warfare, and so would usually only apply if there is an armed conflict between states. Australia is instead maintaining the view that its warships are also exercising their navigational rights through the Strait of Hormuz.

The new mission is cast as an enhancement of previous contributions to counter-terrorism and counter-piracy operations. However, these operations have been directed at non-state actors, rather than the naval forces of another country. Iran may claim that their presence constitutes an unlawful threat of the use of force.

The previous UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, characterised Iran’s actions as “state piracy”. He advocated for “European-led maritime protection mission(s) to support safe passage of both crew and cargo”.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson instead decided to join the US-led mission. In joining this effort, Australia has emphasised the importance of its multilateral nature. This matters when it is recalled that the oil tankers concerned are typically flagged to a wide variety of states, are owned by nationals from other states, might be chartered by companies from different states and are frequently crewed by nationals from diverse states.

As a result, far more countries than just Iran, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have stakes in these issues.

How does it affect the global oil trade?

The prospect of oil tankers being seized in the Strait of Hormuz will likely increase the insurance premiums on shipping. In addition to seizing ships, Iran has threatened to close the strait.

Concerns also exist that Iranian military forces might hinder passage, or might go so far as mining the strait. Any of these scenarios poses a risk to global oil supply and even the prospect of these actions causes a jump in crude oil prices.

What might happen from here?

Ultimately, Iran shares an interest with the United States and other countries in maintaining navigational rights for commercial shipping. So much is evident in Iran’s own response to the British Royal Navy seizing one of its vessels off Gibraltar.

Given that over 90% of the world’s traded goods are carried by ship, every country has a strong reciprocal interest in ensuring freedom of navigation. Iran is using one of the main political tools it has at its disposal to exert pressure in response to current US policies.

Preventing escalation should be the prime concern of all actors and would be the most mutually beneficial outcome. </s> Australia is joining an international military mission to help guard oil tankers from attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Australian Defence Force will contribute troops, a surveillance plane and a Navy frigate to a US-led effort to protect shipping lanes from Iran.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the "modest, meaningful and time limited" contribution was in Australia's national and economic interests.

"The government has decided it's in Australia's national interests to work with our international partners to contribute," he told reporters at Parliament House on Wednesday.

"Our contribution will be limited in scope and it will be time-bound and it will be part of an international mission, separate from any other matters in the region."

At least 15 per cent of crude oil destined for Australia - and up to 30 per cent of refined oil - transits through the Persian gulf.

"So it is a potential threat to our economy," Mr Morrison said.

The warship will be redirected from an anti-piracy operation in the Middle East, while the Australian troops will be based in the headquarters that are coordinating the US-led maritime security mission.

Initially, Australia will be involved for at least six months.

However, the prime minister made it clear the mission could be extended.

The deployment raises questions about the rules of engagement, and what Australian troops will be able to do in response to any aggressive behaviour that comes their way.

Australia's Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell was asked what the frigate would do if a commercial ship was seized, and whether his troops would be allowed to open fire.

"Our people are very well trained and they will be operating under international law," General Campbell told reporters.

"Their presence will be to support security of shipping and freedom of navigation."

So far the US-led international coalition includes the United Kingdom, Australia and Bahrain.

But the mission will be a key topic of discussion when Mr Morrison meets the leaders of the seven wealthiest advanced countries in France this weekend.

Mr Morrison has spoken to the UK's new leader Boris Johnson several times ahead of his trip to Biarritz.

"(The G7 meeting) is an important time, I think, to reinforce these shared values in today's world - democracy, respect for human rights, international law and free markets," he told reporters.
Australia announces its agreement to join the United States' coalition, along with the United Kingdom and Bahrain, to prevent Iran from targeting ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz. Australia will deploy a Boeing P-8 Poseidon and a frigate.