Prime Minister Christopher Luxon<\/strong> has come under sustained criticism after the Government\u2019s carefully worded statement on the US and Israeli strikes on Iran prompted a public rebuke from former prime minister Helen Clark<\/strong>, who described New Zealand\u2019s response as \u201ca disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Sunday the Government issued a statement that acknowledged<\/strong> the strikes, condemned the Iranian regime\u2019s actions and called for a resumption of negotiations \u2014 but stopped short of explicitly endorsing the US and Israeli military action. That measured wording has left questions about New Zealand\u2019s legal and moral position on the use of force. The Press<\/a> The Spinoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Helen Clark<\/strong> publicly criticised the statement, arguing the initial US and Israeli strikes violated international law because there was no imminent threat to justify them, and saying the Government appeared focused on Iran\u2019s retaliation rather than the legality of the initial attacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Luxon defended the Government\u2019s stance in interviews on Newstalk ZB<\/strong> and RNZ Morning Report<\/strong>, repeatedly emphasising the brutality of the Iranian regime and saying New Zealand\u2019s position was \u201cthe same as the Australian position.\u201d When pressed on whether New Zealand explicitly supported the strikes, he avoided a direct yes-or-no answer and returned to criticisms of Iran\u2019s record. Commentators and some political opponents described parts of his appearances as floundering<\/strong> or \u201cfluffed,\u201d saying he failed to set out clear legal red lines or a firm moral judgement on the strikes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Labour leader Chris Hipkins<\/strong> and other opposition figures criticised the Government\u2019s stance as insufficiently principled. Hipkins acknowledged the courage of Iranians protesting at great personal risk and condemned human rights abuses, while warning that military escalation would not bring regional stability and that civilian lives were at risk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this article, cvnznews.com journalist Colin Ambler summarizes the political response to the topic of Iran. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has come under sustained criticism after the Government\u2019s carefully worded statement on the US and Israeli strikes on Iran prompted a public rebuke from former prime minister Helen Clark, who described New Zealand\u2019s response as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[178,113],"coauthors":[446],"class_list":{"0":"post-10589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-iran","9":"tag-new-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10592,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10589\/revisions\/10592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10589"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=10589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nGovernment position<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nClark\u2019s critique<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nLuxon\u2019s media appearances and the \u201cfluffed\u201d responses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nOpposition reaction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAnalysis and what to watch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n