Albanese says he hasn’t received direct request for help after Trump takes swipe at ‘not great’ Australia

Albanese says he hasn’t received direct request for help after Trump takes swipe at ‘not great’ Australia PM downplay’s Trump’s claims after US president criticises lack of support for war against Iran Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Donald Trump has taken another swipe at Australia, alongside Nato, the UK and most of the rest of the world, for not getting more involved in the US-Israel war against Iran. But Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese , again said he had not received any direct requests for help from Trump, and noted the government had not been given any advance notice of the US-Israel military strikes on Iran. At a press conference on Thursday at the White House, the US president was asked to reflect on phone calls with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer. He began by describing Starmer as a “lovely man”. However, he continued, “ did something that was shocking: he didn’t want to help us. And maybe in particular that country, you know, the longest bond, the longest ally. “Australia, too, Australia was not great. I was a little surprised by Australia. “I wouldn’t say anybody was great, other than the five countries in the Middle East. We never really had very much support.” The Albanese government deployed an E7 Wedgetail surveillance aircraft and about 85 defence personnel to the United Arab Emirates, in what has been described as a defensive effort to help assist Australians in the region. Australia also operates military assets from a base in the UAE, and supplied missiles to the country’s government. The plane is feeding information into the Combined Air Operations Centre in Qatar, the facility that helps the US coordinate Middle Eastern operations. Minister for defence, Richard Marles, this week did not rule out extending the deployment of the Wedgetail, which is now two weeks into what was described as an “initial four weeks”. Trump described the Middle East c...