'Very concerning development': Luxon on Iran launching missiles at Israel

8:56 am today

Luxon said the parties must negotiate to end the war.

Photo: RNZ / Louis Dunham

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says an escalation in the Middle East war won't help fuel prices in New Zealand, but he's not worried about supply problems.

The Israeli military said [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/597525/israeli-military-says-it-intercepted-two-ballistic-missiles-fired-from-iran Iran fired missiles in Northern Israel for the first time since April's ceasefire. It said it had intercepted all Iranian ballistic missiles "thus far".

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the attacks, which follow Israeli strikes on Beirut, were "the beginning of a full week of continuous strikes".

Luxon told Morning Report he was not imminently worried about fuel supply.

"But equally, this won't be helpful for fuel pricing," he said.

Luxon said the latest strikes were "a very concerning development" and the parties must negotiate to end the war.

Global volatility meant it was "more important than ever" to hold such a close friendship with Australia, he said.

Luxon had just returned from a trip to Australia over the weekend to meet his counterpart Anthony Albanese.

"You need to find your best friends ... and we have no better friend than Australia, where you actually work together on issues, just like we've talked about on the Hormuz Strait, where we believe very strongly in the multilateral system, the rules-based system," he said.

"Power in big countries can now dominate the little countries, that's why we need to work together."

However Luxon said there had been little progress on joining [. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/595644/new-zealand-in-holding-pattern-over-aukus-in-wake-of-us-review

Pillar Two of AUKUS], the security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US.

Pillar Two would advance sharing of cutting-edge military technology.

"There isn't actually a Pillar Two yet out there, it's talk of a Pillar Two, and really nothing much has progressed," he said.

"That's why our focus is on implementing our own defence capability planning and getting on with that."

Luxon said Australia and New Zealand were more aligned than they had ever been on defence and security.