Australia supports the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and maintains the latter nation must not be allowed to possess atomic weapons, foreign affairs minister Penny Wong says, calling for Tehran to return to negotiations. But while Wong has refused to say whether the communications facility at Pine Gap was used in the American bombing of three Iranian sites, she said it was a “unilateral strike” from the Trump administration, and that the US has not yet asked Australia to get involved in any future military engagement. “The world has long understood we cannot allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. This action is being taken to prevent that. So, we support action to prevent Iran getting a nuclear weapon,” Wong told Channel Nine. Nearly 24 hours after US president Donald Trump said American strikes had “totally obliterated” key Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, the Albanese government on Monday gave its first endorsement of the action, after a statement on Sunday from an unnamed government spokesperson noted the strikes. Fellow senior minister, Tanya Plibersek, told Channel Seven: “We do support the strikes”. “We certainly don’t want to see full-scale war in the Middle East. It is a very delicate and different time, and we would encourage Iran to come back to the negotiating table,” she said. The federal Coalition backed the strikes and accused Labor of being “too ambiguous” in its response to the major escalation in the Middle East conflict; but international law experts described the federal government’s response as “pretty weak”, saying the American strikes were illegal and that Australia should stand up for the “red lines of international law”. Anthony Albanese told 2GB radio he would speak on the Iran matter on Monday, following a meeting of the national security committee of cabinet. Asked on the ABC whether Australia believed the strikes were in accordance with international law, she did not directly respond, but said the US bombing had targeted Iran’s nuclear program. “The world has long agreed that Iran is not in compliance with its international obligations when it comes to nuclear material. And the world has long agreed that it is not in the interest of collective peace and security for Iran to gain access to any nuclear weapon,” she said. Wong rebuffed suggestions the government had been slow to respond. She again called for “de-escalation and diplomacy” rather than further ratcheting up. “And that’s not just words, it’s a view about the risk to the people of the region and to the world, to global instability. If we see escalation and a full-scale war. We do not want to see that,” she told Nine. Coalition acting shadow foreign minister Andrew Hastie said the opposition backed the US strikes and also called for dialogue. “We want to see a peaceful settlement from here. And I’m just not going to speculate on what steps might be taken next,” he told Radio National. On Channel Nine, Wong was asked if the joint Australian-US communications facility at Pine Gap, in the Northern Territory, had been used in planning or carrying out the strikes. She replied: “You wouldn’t expect me to comment on intelligence matters ever”. “But what I would say is, the US has made it clear this was a unilateral strike.” Wong also said the US had not requested Australian assistance in future military operations, and that she “wouldn’t speculate.” “I again would say we are concerned, as are so many people around the world about continued escalation. No one wants to see full-scale war in the Middle East.” Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce told Sunrise he was concerned about further escalation in the region. “This could go south in the most tremendous way for Australia and I did see a sense of gloating and hubris from the United States,” he told Seven’s Sunrise show on Monday. “That is alright if it is the end of the game, but if this takes the next step we are all going to be involved.” Former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos said he believed there was “no way we would put troops on the ground.” “I don’t think the government or the political establishment here are suggesting that we just follow whatever the US is going to do,” he told AAP. Wong again urged Australians in Iran and Israel to leave if they can do so safely, saying in a doorstop around 2900 Australians in Iran and 1300 in Israel had registered for assistance. She said Australian officials have been deployed to the Azerbaijani border, and if Australians can travel there, they would be helped; and that the government was hoping to take advantage of a possible opening of Israeli airspace. “Obviously, this is very fluid, but we are seeking to make arrangements to utilise that window, if we are able. And we have advised Australians on the ground of that fact,” she said. “We are seeking to utilise this opportunity, but the situation on the ground is uncertain and valid and risky.”