Australia’s Albanese says Iran war goals met, asks what more is left to achieve

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the US-Israeli war on Iran appears to have achieved its key initial aims of curbing Tehran’s nuclear and missile capabilities – and questioned what further goals remain.“We did express support for the original objectives: preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon and degrading its capacity to endanger its neighbours,” Albanese said in a speech on Thursday at the National Press Club in Canberra.“And now those objectives have been realised, it is not clear what more needs to be achieved – or what the endpoint looks like,” he said, adding that the longer the war goes on, the greater the damage to the global economy.The remarks come after US President Donald Trump said in a rare prime-time address that the war in Iran is “very close” to completion, while signalling plans for fresh attacks within the next two to three weeks.WATCH: Donald Trump addresses nationWATCH: Donald Trump addresses nationAlbanese reiterated that Australia, a close US ally, is not an active participant in the war, even though it has deployed an electronic surveillance aircraft to help the United Arab Emirates defend itself.