Source: Radio New Zealand
The Prime Minister admitted he “misspoke” when he said New Zealand supported “any actions” to prevent Iran having nuclear weapons.
The Prime Minister has admitted he “misspoke” when he said New Zealand supported “any actions” to prevent Iran having nuclear weapons.
Christopher Luxon also said New Zealand will not join the conflict.
At his post-Cabinet press conference on Monday, Luxon said successive governments have had a longstanding position that any action that stopped Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, from sponsoring terrorism, and from stopping them killing there own people was “a good thing.”
On Tuesday, Luxon described his comments as meaning New Zealand had long supported actions to prevent Iran from getting “its hands on nuclear weapons” and actions to stop the country sponsoring terrorism and repressing its people, but said “obviously, not any action.”
He said that was any action, but not “at any cost.”
Referring to the example raised of carpet bombing Iran, Luxon said “clearly that is not what we want to see.”
When asked how he made the error, given he repeated “any action” multiple times on Monday, Luxon said “I just said to you, I misspoke,” and passed on apologies.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins believes the strikes were illegal. RNZ / Mark Papalii
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said it was good that the Prime Minister had admitted he misspoke.
“Words matter – to quote our Foreign Affairs Minister – and in this particular instance words matter a great deal,” Hipkins said.
“Adherence to international law shouldn’t be a matter of discretion, it should be something we expect all countries to adhere to.”
“It’s a no” – Luxon rules out New Zealand joining strikes
Asked whether New Zealand would join the United States in this instance, Luxon confirmed it would not.
“It’s a no from me, and we haven’t been asked to, and I think we’re unlikely to do so as well.”
Luxon reiterated his comments from Monday, in which he said New Zealand was not party to the information that led to the strikes, and would also not speak about US President Donald Trump’s judgement when it came to conflict.
Hipkins welcomed the Prime Minister’s decision to rule out joining in the United States’ actions.
“I would prefer that the New Zealand government continued to take a very principled stance in saying we’re actually opposed to this bombing campaign, because it is a violation of international law, and New Zealand has a lot of reasons to want the rest of the world to be adhering to international law”
Iran and Israel have continued to trade strikes since joint US and Iran airstrikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
US President Donald Trump has warned that bigger strikes are to come, and says the conflict could drag out longer than the four to five weeks he initially planned.
New Zealanders in Iran are urged to leave if it is safe to do so, and register on SafeTravel.
Luxon confirmed that 2150 New Zealanders were registered.
On Morning Report, Hipkins disagreed with the Prime Minister’s stance that it was not New Zealand’s place to comment on the legality of the strikes.
Hipkins said he believed the strikes were illegal.
“I think New Zealand government seems to be moving away from what has been a long-standing and principled approach to these issues,” he told Morning Report.
“We have been very clear that we think international law matters, and that all parties to these sorts of conflicts should follow international law. That’s not the case here.”
He said it is important that our government speaks with authority and in favour of international law.
“New Zealand’s government should stand up for the international system of rules that we rely on for our own security as a country,” Hipkins said.
“If the situation becomes that the countries with the most power can do whatever they like regardless of what international law says, that’s very bad news for a small country like New Zealand.”
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the latest conflict in the Middle East endangered the rules-based order New Zealand relied on.
“The idea that we can start encouraging and allowing other countries to invade just because we don’t like their leaders is an incredibly dangerous take for this Prime Minister to support.
“He needs to be up front and declare whether he supports the rule of law, whether he supports countries in the world just willy nilly being able to decide, on vibes, whether they can invade or not.
“That’s really dangerous. That puts us and regions of the world in a really unsafe position.”
ACT leader David Seymour. RNZ / Mark Papalii
Deputy Prime Minister and ACT leader David Seymour is backing Luxon’s stance on the US-Israel attacks on Iran.
“One thing he’s noted that’s important is that New Zealand does not have all of the information that the US and Israel have used to justify their actions,” he told RNZ’s First Up on Tuesday. “So, we could spend a lot of time with New Zealand trying to be precise in its position, but I don’t think that’s what the world’s waiting for.”
He said as a result of the strikes, Iranian girls will have an opportunity to “dress as you like, go to school, do things that are normal rights that have been withheld from them by this regime”.
“And finally, for them in Iran and also for all of us around the world, it’s critical that trade is able to continue and resume so that we don’t face price shocks and even more economic peril. Those are the things that I think are important.”
Seymour would not say if he expected advance warning from allies like the UK if New Zealand troops at allies’ bases in the region were in danger.
“That’s something that we constantly talk about with our allies, but I think it’s safe to say that whatever we may or may not be doing won’t be helped by me announcing it on New Zealand radio…
“Clearly, the safety of New Zealand personnel is critical, and whatever moves might or might not be afoot, we’re not going to discuss publicly.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand was not given any advance notice of the attack on Iran, and has again urged New Zealanders to leave if it is safe to do so.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
LiveNews: https://livenews.co.nz/2026/03/03/opposition-leader-chris-hipkins-says-us-israel-strikes-illegal/
