Australian Navy complicit in US war crimes

I said to this admiral, ‘They all sound the same, you know, in the end.’ He said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘Glug, glug, glug, glug.’”  – Paul Keating about US aircraft carriers in the Gulf.

In 2020, US President Trump had already said on a number of occasions that he wanted no more Middle eastern wars – but, even then, his actions in ordering the drone assassination of leading Iranian General Quassem Soleimani in Iraq contradicted this. Yet the American people voted him in. Back then, Australia had some 300+ troops in Iraq, and had sent RAN Frigate HMAS Toowoomba to join US gunboat diplomacy in the Persian Gulf. This made Australia a further provocation and a target of Iran’s significant military forces. Intelligence experts say Trump and Netanyahu cooked up this latest attack last year and that negotiations over nuclear weapons were therefor a sham.

Now in March 2026, going against international law, naval conventions, and humanitarian principles, a United States AUKUS Virginia class submarine stalked and killed over 140 sailors on a Iranian frigate, the IRIS Dena, in international waters off the coast of Sri Lanka. Operating under rules of international naval exercises the frigate may well have had no live ammunition on board. It is likely US military experts knew that when the decision was taken to torpedo the ship. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited the Iranian frigate to participate in naval exercises and welcomed them to parades on Indian soil. Modi is the same Prime Minister who visited Tel Aviv a couple of weeks ago to encourage Israel’s genocide in Gaza and occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by settlers. Modi hates muslims.

There were three Australian naval officers on board the deadly US submarine, a nuclear powered Virginia‑class SSNs, the similar boats that Australia has bought for over $368 billion from the Americans. Those poor Iranian sailors were sitting ducks.

Broader consequences
US Congress has the power to declare war. The US congress is complicit in the events that followed because they did not stop the United States Executive going to war against Iran. The same Congress that gave Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu are standing ovation is now guilty of war crimes that include:

• genocide in Gaza
• human catastrophe in Lebanon.
• deaths of school girls in Iran
• broadening of the conflict to countries that have United States military bases.

The United States and its supporters have lost all credibility in the world. Australia is sinking low by its complicity in war crimes. The US must be stopped.

Australia’s plan under AUKUS involves purchasing or leasing Virginia-class submarine boats initially, before moving to its own SSN-AUKUS design, with the total program cost projected at more than $368 billion. They are expected to be based in HMAS Stirling in Western Australia. The IRIS Dena, reportedly without live ammunition and returning from a naval exercise, was struck by a torpedo in international waters off Sri Lanka, resulting in 87 fatalities and 32 survivors. From a humanitarian perspective, the Iranian sailors were extremely vulnerable, particularly given the nature of submarine warfare. The attack was especially insidious because the submarine had participated in the same exercises as the target vessel, leaving little opportunity for defence or escape and effectively turning the IRIS Dena and its crew into “sitting ducks” in open waters against a heavy torpedo fired from a nuclear-powered attack submarine.

One report by Iran International, says an Iranian sailor aboard the IRIS Dena called his father shortly before the ship was struck, saying U.S. forces had issued two warnings for the crew to abandon the vessel. The Commander of U.S. submarine torpedoed the frigate near Sri Lanka, although the warning claim comes from a family source and has not been independently verified.

Another report says the USS Minnesota, shown here docked at HMAS Stirling in Perth in February 2025, was responsible for sinking IRIS Dena. In March 2025, Cdr. Cornielle led the vessel during a visit to Western Australia, to strengthen the absurdly expensive AUKUS partnership with Australia.

Contradictory reports suggest the USS Charlotte (SSN-766) commanded by Thomas Futch sank IRIS Dena. As part of its AUKUS-related training and operational deployments, USS Charlotte (SSN‑766) is now primarily assigned as a forward-deployed submarine based in Guam. It has Tomahawk cruise missiles and Mark 48 torpedoes to strike enhancing the U.S.–AUKUS undersea deterrence. Prime Minister Albanese claimed Australia’s personnel were observers/trainees, not active participants in the attack. Yet the three Australian sailors were there supporting ‘allied operations‘ under the $368 billion AUKUS agreement that he and Richard Marles signed. Richard Marles, as Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, agreed to the deployment of Australian officers aboard a U.S. submarine under AUKUS training arrangements These matters need to be sent to the Hague for investigation together with all the other weapons deals Australia has with the United States.

In July 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian civilian airliner. A year later, the US Naval Institute Proceedings carried a report by the commander of sister ship who put the blame on the gung-ho behaviour of the Vincennes commander which he said had been ‘a topic of wardroom conversation.’ Throughout, Washington blamed the Iranian civilian pilot for flying in a manner threatening to the warship.

The people of West Asia are paying a terrible price for Australian support of the United States administration.

Ian Curr
8 March 2026

BRISBANE Magandjin: Palm Sunday, Sunday 29th March, 3pm: Rally for Peace & Justice, 2026 King George Square.