Jennifer Parker

We know that European countries, UK, France, have been talking about establishing their own construct or coalition.

We know that Australia has been in talks with them both militarily and diplomatically, but we don't really know what that looks like.

So will Australia become involved in ensuring freedom of navigation straight post this conflict?

Look, I suspect we probably will.

What that involvement looks like...

Difficult to say.

Probably some naval planners, maybe a maritime patrol aircraft and diplomatic support.

Probably not a ship.

I think we're definitely shifting into a new stage of this war.

And the new stage is the US now trying to exert pressure on the Strait of Hormuz to free up shipping.

I've been pretty surprised throughout this conflict that this is not something they had done earlier.

In fact, they have in some ways allowed Iran to dominate that strait.

You know, two and a half weeks ago, we saw the foreign minister of Iran say the strait was open.

Within 24 hours, we saw Iranian small boats start firing on an Indian tanker and then some other vessels.

I was quite surprised that the US did not take out those vessels.

And so now we're seeing the US show resolve in terms of trying to stop Iran from attacking ships in the Strait.

Iran is not going to be happy with that.

They've said very clearly if any US warships transit the Strait, they're going to respond.

And so we will see some escalation from Iran.

Now, whether this is