Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has branded the escalating conflict in the Middle East a stark "failure" of the international order, declaring that Washington did not consult its allies before launching military strikes against Iran. Speaking at the Lowy Institute in Sydney during a visit to Australia, Carney said the war demonstrated the shortcomings of decades of UN Security Council resolutions, International Atomic Energy Agency efforts, and successive sanctions and diplomatic frameworks designed to contain Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
"Iran's nuclear threat remains, and now the United States and Israel have acted without engaging the UN or consulting with allies, including Canada," Carney stated. He described the US-Israeli strikes, which commenced on Saturday after nuclear negotiations with Tehran broke down, as "inconsistent with international law," while acknowledging it was ultimately for legal experts to make that determination. The Canadian leader confirmed his country was neither informed in advance nor invited to take part in the military operation, adding that Canada would not have been in a position to participate had it been asked.
The conflict has rapidly expanded beyond Iran's borders, with retaliatory Iranian strikes hitting Gulf states including Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as well as US embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Washington has since shuttered diplomatic missions across the region. The strikes killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and triggered a broader regional war that has prompted multiple nations to begin evacuating their citizens from the Middle East.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told parliament that six crisis response teams had been dispatched to the region, alongside military assets deployed as part of contingency planning. "I thank those Australians going into a dangerous situation in order to help their fellow Australians," he said. Australia has an estimated 115 000 citizens in the affected area. New Zealand similarly ordered two military aircraft to the Middle East on Thursday to prepare for possible evacuations.
Despite his criticism, Carney maintained that Canada supported the US "acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security." Standing alongside Albanese in Canberra, Carney said one could "never categorically rule out participation" and affirmed that Canada would "stand by our allies," while urging all parties engaged in hostilities to respect international rules of engagement.
Carney's Australian stopover forms part of a broader Asia-Pacific tour that includes Japan and India, aimed at strengthening ties between so-called "middle powers." He emphasised Canada's strategy of forging coalitions with like-minded partners on an issue-by-issue basis, noting that unlike great powers, middle powers such as Canada lack the military capacity and market size to act unilaterally. The two nations are expected to deepen cooperation across defence, maritime security, critical minerals, trade and artificial intelligence.
