Prime Minister Chris Luxon described former President Donald Trump’s firm rhetoric on Iran as “unhelpful,” carefully avoiding outright condemnation during an interview.
The remarks followed Trump’s weekend post on Truth Social, highlighting potential targeted strikes on Iranian infrastructure. Trump’s post read:
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! … F…..’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
When questioned, Luxon insisted that escalation was not helpful.
“Yeah, look, I mean, unhelpf… the bottom line is that the focus needs to be on not seeing this conflict expand any further. It is critical that the US and Iran find a way to de-escalate. Absolutely critical for the world, and certainly for us in New Zealand… unhelpful because more military action’s not necessary,” he said in a conversation with RNZ.
Pressed on whether Trump’s statements could constitute threats of potential war crimes, Luxon again refrained from condemning the former U.S. president, merely stating:
“Yeah, well, we expect all parties to comply with International law, as you’d expect… We’ve been pretty consistent about that since the start of this conflict.”
The interviewer noted that New Zealand condemned Iran’s attacks on civilian infrastructure and questioned whether the government had similarly addressed U.S. or Israeli threats. Luxon reiterated New Zealand’s “consistent” stance.
“Well, we’ve actually asked for all parties to be compliant with international law. That’s a longstanding position of New Zealand… we’ve got, you know, threats from the president over the weekend. It would be hard to see any of those actions, which include bombing bridges, reservoirs and civilian infrastructure, would be unacceptable as well.”
Luxon also highlighted apparent uncertainty in U.S. strategy:
“I think that’s part of the challenge, I think, the goals and the objectives are from the US administration have been somewhat unclear.”
Turning to domestic concerns, Luxon stressed the economic implications of the Middle East conflict, particularly soaring fuel prices and supply risks for New Zealanders.
He described maintaining fuel supply as the government’s “number one priority,” warning that shortages could persist even if hostilities cease.
Luxon also confirmed New Zealand had not been consulted on U.S. or Israeli actions.
“We’re not a party to those actions. We’re not involved with them at all… we were not consulted, we have not been informed subsequently, we have not been debriefed subsequently either.”