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Iran-Israel missile attacks risk wider region conflict

Iran-Israel missile attacks risk wider region conflict

Perth Now15-06-2025
Australia remains very concerned that the tit-for-tat bombing campaigns by Iran and Israel could spill into a wider conflict in the Middle East.
"Israel has a right to defend itself, but we would be urging all parties for dialogue and de-escalation," federal frontbencher Amanda Rishworth told Nine's Today show on Monday.
"There needs to be ... tensions brought down here, because the consequences will be significant if it spills over into a wider conflict."
But Liberal MP Andrew Bragg said Israel was doing the world favour, given Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism.
"If we were in Israel's shoes, we would not tolerate a country nearby us getting a nuclear weapon," he told Today.
"And so I think Israel is trying to stop that from happening - that's a good thing for humanity, because these guys are the worst regime anywhere on the planet."
Israel and Iran began trading missile blows on Friday after the Israeli military launched an attacks with the stated aim of wiping out Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Iran vowed to "open the gates of hell" in retaliation.
The onslaught continued into Sunday and Iran's health ministry said 224 people had been killed since Friday.
Spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said on social media that 1277 other people were hospitalised, and asserted that more than 90 per cent of the casualties were civilians.
Israeli rescue teams combed through rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Iranian missiles on Sunday, using sniffer dogs and heavy excavators to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, raising the two-day toll to 13.
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