Speaker 1: Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily. Oh,
Speaker 1: this is the Dahlias.
Speaker 2: Oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily Os. It's Monday,
Speaker 1: the twenty second of April.
Speaker 2: I'm Sam, i'm zara.
Speaker 1: Over the last few weeks, we've seen Israel and Iran
Speaker 1: directly attack each other for the first time in history.
Speaker 1: We again with breaking news in the Middle East, where
Speaker 1: Israel has reportedly began retaliatory strikes against Iran. We begin
Speaker 1: this morning with that Israeli attack on Iran, a move
Speaker 1: that is threatening to further escalate tensions between the regional foes.
Speaker 2: Just days after Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel.
Speaker 2: Tonight our retaliation with fears growing of all out war
Speaker 2: in the Middle East.
Speaker 1: On today's podcast, we're going to look at why direct
Speaker 1: conflicts between these two Middle Eastern nations is so significant,
Speaker 1: the context of tension between these two countries, and why
Speaker 1: the global community is calling for immediate de escalation. Before
Speaker 1: we tackle that deep dive, Zara. What is making headlines
Speaker 1: this morning?
Speaker 2: Thousands of people have attended a candlelight vigil for the
Speaker 2: six victims of the Bondai Junction Westfield stabbing, which of
Speaker 2: course happened last Saturday. Mental health workers were in attendance
Speaker 2: at the gathering at Bondai Beach and attendees were asked
Speaker 2: to bring candles instead of flowers. Six people remain in
Speaker 2: hospital and all are in a stable condition. Before the vigil,
Speaker 2: New South Wales Premier Chris Mins said he hoped the
Speaker 2: event offered survivors some strength from the fact that there's
Speaker 2: many people that are standing with them during this time.
Speaker 1: Over the weekend, Britney Higgins published a statement following last
Speaker 1: week's verdict in the defamation case brought by Bruce Lherman.
Speaker 1: In a statement, Higgins thanked Justice Lee for his quote
Speaker 1: trauma informed approach and said she quote hoped he had
Speaker 1: set a new precedent for how courts considered the testimonies
Speaker 1: of victim survivors sexual assault. Last week, Justice Lee found that,
Speaker 1: on the balance of probabilities, Leherman had sexually assaulted Higgins.
Speaker 1: Lehman has always maintained his innocence.
Speaker 2: Apple says it has been ordered by China's government to
Speaker 2: remove certain meta platforms from the app store in the country.
Speaker 2: According to Reuter's, WhatsApp and threads are being removed. However,
Speaker 2: Meta's other platforms, Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, it will still
Speaker 2: be available in China. Apple said this request came from
Speaker 2: the Cyberspace Administration of China over concerns for national security.
Speaker 1: And some good news for you today to start off
Speaker 1: your week. Although Australia missed out on this year's solar clips,
Speaker 1: the Devil Comet will be visible in the coming week.
Speaker 1: The Devil Comet comes around every seventy one years and
Speaker 1: expected the comet will be the most visible on Thursday
Speaker 1: at around six thirty pm Australian Eastern Standard Time. And
Speaker 1: while it will be visible to the naked eye, it's
Speaker 1: best view through a telescope. And it's called the Devil
Speaker 1: Comet because of a slight green color and what looks
Speaker 1: like two horns when it's traveling across space. So in
Speaker 1: today's deep dive, we're going to try and explain the
Speaker 1: geopolitical tensions between Israel and Iran that have been dominating
Speaker 1: the headlines for a few weeks and give you a
Speaker 1: bit of context to some of the headlines you might
Speaker 1: have seen around. But before we jump into that explainer,
Speaker 1: we did want to acknowledge that there's still an ongoing
Speaker 1: humanitarian crisis in Gaza, when nearly thirty five thousand Palestinian
Speaker 1: people have been killed and over one hundred Israeli hostages remain.
Speaker 2: I do think that that's a really important note to
Speaker 2: start on. Sam and experts did warn that the events
Speaker 2: unfolding both in Israel and in Gaza would have ripple
Speaker 2: effects across the region, and that's now exactly what we're seeing.
Speaker 2: Those tensions between Israel and Iran have existed for decades,
Speaker 2: but not a new thing by any stretch of the imagination,
Speaker 2: but it's certainly come to a head, especially over the
Speaker 2: last month. Why are we talking about Iran and Israel today.
Speaker 1: Well, why don't we start at the end. We'll figure
Speaker 1: out exactly what's just happened and then go back and
Speaker 1: try out how we got there. So on Friday, Israel
Speaker 1: launched a missile attack on Iran in retaliation to a
Speaker 1: previous attack. The IDF launched air strikes near the cities
Speaker 1: of Isfahan and Tabriz, which are in the center of
Speaker 1: the country. Now, the reason why this was such huge
Speaker 1: international news was the fact that it's the first time
Speaker 1: that these two nations have traded strikes directly to each other,
Speaker 1: and we're going to come back to exactly what that means.
Speaker 1: We don't one hundred percent know what Israel hit on Friday,
Speaker 1: whether the strike was against military infrastructure, nuclear infrastructure, or
Speaker 1: something totally different like electricity grids. Now, according to some
Speaker 1: satellite imagery released by a private organization called Umbra Space,
Speaker 1: they've been verified by the BBC, there seems to be
Speaker 1: damaged to in Iranian air base. Important aspects of this
Speaker 1: particular story from Friday is that Isfahan is known as
Speaker 1: the center of Iran's nuclear program. Now, Iranian officials have
Speaker 1: said that their ed offense systems fended off the attack
Speaker 1: and it was a failed attempt by Israel. As for Israel,
Speaker 1: they never comment on foreign operations so have done their
Speaker 1: standard kind of say nothing approach to Friday's activities.
Speaker 2: I think that for many people what you just said
Speaker 2: might have been gibberish. Fair enough, you don't have the
Speaker 2: context to understand why direct conflict between Israel and Iran
Speaker 2: matters so much for not just those two countries, but
Speaker 2: for the region and for the rest of the world.
Speaker 2: Can you just provide a bit of background to these tensions.
Speaker 1: Some of the thickest books I've ever seen have been
Speaker 1: on the tensions between Iran and Israel. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to do it justice by explaining it in thirty seconds,
Speaker 1: but the top line of it is that Israel and
Speaker 1: Iran have had a hostile relationship for many decades. And
Speaker 1: we can go back to the nineteen seventy nine revolution
Speaker 1: in Iran, which installed a conservative Muslim dictatorship, and since
Speaker 1: that point, Iran has questioned the legitimacy of a Jewish
Speaker 1: state and called for its destruction. Now, since Hamas launched
Speaker 1: an attack on Israel on the seventh of October, to
Speaker 1: which Israel responded by declaring war, tensions with other forces,
Speaker 1: including proxies of Iran like Hesbola, have also increased.
Speaker 2: You said the word proxy there, What do you mean
Speaker 2: by that?
Speaker 1: So when we talk about a proxy, we're talking about
Speaker 1: a group that is acting on behalf of another. So
Speaker 1: in this case, Hesbola is funded, armed and trained by
Speaker 1: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, and there are
Speaker 1: many groups around the world in a similar situation. Now,
Speaker 1: the idea of having proxy forces is not unique to Iran.
Speaker 1: There have been proxy wars all throughout history, including during
Speaker 1: the Cold War when the US and the Soviet Union
Speaker 1: were both fighting a battle through proxies, and one of
Speaker 1: the ones that might come to mind straightaway is Vietnam
Speaker 1: for example.
Speaker 2: Okay, so these tensions have existed for a long time,
Speaker 2: but all of that came to a head earlier this
Speaker 2: month in Syria. What happened this is now the beginning
Speaker 2: of the latest chapter.
Speaker 1: That's kind of how we got to Friday. Now. In April, first,
Speaker 1: Iran accused Israel of striking its embassy complex in Damascus,
Speaker 1: which is the capital of Syria. Now, like Hesbala in Lebanon,
Speaker 1: Syria's current regime relies on support from Iranian forces. The
Speaker 1: country is embroiled in this long running civil war between
Speaker 1: Syrian President Bashar al Asad his forces and rebel opponents. Now,
Speaker 1: Iran said seven people, including three senior commanders, were killed
Speaker 1: in that strike, and one of the officers killed was
Speaker 1: a senior Iranian commander. His name was Mohammad Rida Zahadi.
Speaker 1: He was the leader of Iranian forces spread across Syria, Lebanon,
Speaker 1: and Palestine. Now the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack.
Speaker 1: They described it as brutal aggression and blamed Israel. In
Speaker 1: a statement, the Iranian Foreign Minister said Israel's Prime Minister
Speaker 1: Benjamin Nana, who quote had lost his mental balance, and
Speaker 1: the foreign minister called for a serious response against Israel.
Speaker 2: And so they said there would be a serious response.
Speaker 2: And then eventually Iran did respond, and that was very,
Speaker 2: very significant because that marked the first time that Iran
Speaker 2: had ever directly attacked Israel in its history.
Speaker 1: What happened, Yeah, so Iran had its embassy complex hit
Speaker 1: in Syria. They said we're going to respond, and respond
Speaker 1: they did, and so the weekend before last Iran fired
Speaker 1: three hundred drones towards Israel. Now, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Speaker 1: Corps confirmed it had launched quote dozens of drones and missiles,
Speaker 1: and the air strikes involved a mix of unmann droned,
Speaker 1: ballistic and cruise missiles. Now, according to the US and Israel,
Speaker 1: these were launched from locations scattered across Iran, Iraq, Syria,
Speaker 1: and Yemen. And this is when the proxy power of
Speaker 1: Iran kind of comes into play here, the fact that
Speaker 1: they come from all of those different nations. Now, these
Speaker 1: missiles took hours to land, but most of them were
Speaker 1: stopped by air defenses. The Israeli Defense Forces said about
Speaker 1: ninety nine percent of the air missiles and drones were intercepted.
Speaker 1: They said they struck down the majority of the missiles
Speaker 1: with support from the US, the UK, and France, and
Speaker 1: that should give you a bit of a flavor of
Speaker 1: how quickly this could escalate to be a more global conflict.
Speaker 1: The IDF did acknowledge that only a few ballistic missiles
Speaker 1: crossed into Israeli territory. Authorities said there was minor damage
Speaker 1: to an air force base in southern Israel and one
Speaker 1: child was injured.
Speaker 2: And from there it was a bit of a waiting game.
Speaker 2: We knew Israel was likely to retaliate against Iran, given
Speaker 2: that it was the first time that they had been
Speaker 2: directly attacked by the country, but we didn't know what
Speaker 2: form that would take, and it was kind of like
Speaker 2: there were lots of different reports about when it would happen,
Speaker 2: how it would happen. It did happen on Friday, our time,
Speaker 2: as we have already explained about.
Speaker 1: That's how we charted it at the top.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so how has the international community reacted to what's
Speaker 2: happened here?
Speaker 1: Well? US President Joe Biden had before all of this.
Speaker 1: On Friday, instructed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nanna, who to
Speaker 1: quote take the win.
Speaker 2: What does that mean?
Speaker 1: Well, basically, Biden's perspective was that Israel had come out
Speaker 1: of that Iranian missile attack on Israeli territory largely unscathed
Speaker 1: with the help of US forces, and that what the
Speaker 1: world needed right now was everyone to.
Speaker 2: Calm down, so a de escalation.
Speaker 1: I know this is trivializing a very serious topic, but
Speaker 1: almost what Biden was saying there was quit while you're ahead.
Speaker 1: But in direct response to the strike by Israel on
Speaker 1: Iran on Friday, a US official told Axios, which is
Speaker 1: a news outlet in the US, quote we were not surprised,
Speaker 1: and that the US was continuing to urge Israel to
Speaker 1: quote be careful in its response. We also got a
Speaker 1: statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is the
Speaker 1: UN's nuclear watchdog. It said it is quote monitoring the
Speaker 1: situation very closely and urged extreme restraint from everybody. It
Speaker 1: added that nuclear facilities should never be at target in
Speaker 1: military conflicts.
Speaker 2: And then what about Australia, what did we say?
Speaker 1: Well, in a similar vein to the US, EU and
Speaker 1: many Middle Eastern nations. Australia is calling on both sides
Speaker 1: to exercise restraint. We heard from the Acting Foreign Minister,
Speaker 1: Katie Gallagher yesterday. She asked both parties to quote step
Speaker 1: back and said Australia quote remains extremely concerned about the
Speaker 1: potential for miscalculation and further escalation of conflict in the region.
Speaker 1: I think miscalculation is a really troubling word to be
Speaker 1: using in this sort of setting at the moment. Australia
Speaker 1: also updated its travel advice for those in Israel and
Speaker 1: Iran on Friday via their Smart Traveler service. There is
Speaker 1: currently a do not travel instruction for Iran and a
Speaker 1: reconsider your need to travel for Israel as quote, regional
Speaker 1: tensions are high and the security situation could deteriorate quickly
Speaker 1: with little or known notice.
Speaker 2: And so on that note. What does happen from here, Well,
Speaker 2: I think the.
Speaker 1: Big thing we've learned from the last of two weeks
Speaker 1: is that both sides now have shown us they have
Speaker 1: the capability to send missiles to each other's territories.
Speaker 2: But equally, both sides have the ability to protect themselves
Speaker 2: from those.
Speaker 1: Missiles definitely, and that kind of answers a lot of
Speaker 1: hypothetical questions the international community has had for a number
Speaker 1: of decades now in terms of what happens directly next.
Speaker 1: There is no clear indication from Iran that it plans
Speaker 1: to strike back to Israel imminently. In a statement to Reuter's,
Speaker 1: Iran's Foreign ministry did not directly attribute the attack to
Speaker 1: Israel by name, and Reuter's commented that by not directly
Speaker 1: calling out Israel as the perpetrator of that missile strike,
Speaker 1: it kind of removes the need for Iran to retaliate.
Speaker 1: An Iranian official said quote, the foreign source of the
Speaker 1: incident has not been confirmed. We have not received any
Speaker 1: external attack, and the discussion leans more towards infiltration than attack.
Speaker 1: And by putting that statement out there, what they're doing
Speaker 1: is they are allowing the temperature to come down a
Speaker 1: little bit in this crisis. I'm not showing the international
Speaker 1: community that they're going to respond right away. However, as
Speaker 1: we've said throughout this podcast, this is an incredibly unpredictable situation.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us on today's episode of The Daily Oz.
Speaker 2: We'll be back again tomorrow morning, but until then, have
Speaker 2: a great day.
Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 1: Bungelung Caalcuttin woman from Gadighl country. The Daily oz acknowledges
Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres
Speaker 1: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the
Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.