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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed there were three Australians aboard a nuclear-powered US submarine that is responsible for sinking an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka.
“We wouldn’t normally confirm such an issue, but given our NSC meetings and the public interest, I can confirm that there were three Australian persons on board that vessel. I can confirm also, though, that no Australian personnel have participated in any offensive action against Iran,” Albanese told Sky News on Friday.
While Albanese insists the three Australian crew members played no active role in the sinking of the frigate IRIS Dena on Wednesday off India’s eastern coast, their presence on board a US ship as it launched an attack underscores how deeply embedded Australia’s defence forces are in the US military as the AUKUS nuclear submarine pact progresses.
The Australian Defence Force initially refused to confirm the presence of Australians on the submarine, saying only that for operational security reasons, they did not disclose “specific details regarding third-country deployments, including the number of personnel or their location”.
Australia has been embedding crews on US nuclear submarines since 2023 as part of the AUKUS pact, hoping to send as many as 440 Australians below with US crews before it takes command of its own nuclear-powered vessels.
Albanese said the three Australians were gaining experience with allied militaries as part of the AUKUS pact.
“One of the big pluses behind the AUKUS arrangements is Australian personnel getting experience across a range of assets, including being on board nuclear-powered submarines, but also the exchange that’s occurring across the board,” Albanese said.
“So it’s not just personnel, it’s engineers, it’s technicians, it’s people learning those skills, whether they be in the United States or the United Kingdom,” the prime minister said.
Australia’s first nuclear-powered submarine – a second-hand Virginia-class boat – is scheduled to arrive in 2032. While that may sound like a long time, the navy says it is racing to ensure Australia will have enough trained submariners to take charge of the boat.
Greens defence spokesman David Shoebridge said it was now obviously “a lie” that Australia is not involved in the attacks on Iran.
“It’s extraordinary that it has taken this long for the Australian government to admit at least some of the truth about Australia’s involvement in this illegal war by the United States in Israel on Iran,” Shoebridge said in a press conference shortly after the prime minister’s appearance on Sky.
“However, it is extraordinary that the prime minister, literally in the same sentence, said that Australian personnel were on a US nuclear attack class submarine that struck and sunk an Iranian frigate. But Australia is not directly involved in the war in Iran. These two facts cannot sit together in the same sentence. And what is becoming increasingly clear is that Labor’s statement since this war began, that Australia is not directly involved in the war, has been a lie.”
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