Source: Radio New Zealand
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and US President Donald Trump. Supplied / PMO
A geopolitical analyst says New Zealand has a small but important role to play in a peaceful solution in the Middle East.
The United States and Israel have continued airstrikes on Iran as the conflict moves into its fifth day.
Dr Geoffrey Miller told Midday Report that both countries had plenty of ammunition to keep the strikes going.
“The firepower of Israel and the United States in particular is unmatched, and you would expect they can continue this war from the air for quite a long time,” he said.
“The US is the biggest military in the world; no doubt they’ve got more ammunition, more firepower up their sleeve.”
But he said airstrikes could only get them so far.
“The issue is that you cannot win this war from the air, and that’s the problem. What is the endgame of this war? Iran is showing no mercy against the Gulf States, it’s continuing to fight back, and just in the last half hour or so, there have been new strikes on Bahrain, also towards Israel. That’s despite all these strikes from the air from Israel and the United States on Iran for, now, five days,” Dr Miller said.
Geopolitical analyst Dr Geoffrey Miller. Supplied
“We’ve now got an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon, and airstrikes over Beirut, we’ve got drones being intercepted going as far as NATO airbases in Turkiye, just across the region, is chaos and destruction and devastation.”
He said New Zealand, as a small but well-liked country, could work towards a diplomatic solution.
“New Zealand needs to be really thinking about all of this. Christopher Luxon had a phone call with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the president of the United Arab Emirates, last night. He said, in the readout that came out on X after that, that New Zealand was keen on negotiated solutions, on de-escalations,” Dr Miller said.
“I think New Zealand can, in a small way, be part of that. New Zealand has had an embassy in Tehran for fifty years, it’s had an embassy in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia for forty years, and has good ties with many of the Gulf States.
“New Zealand can be part of the solution to this conflict, because what we need is a diplomatic solution. There is no military solution to what we’re seeing in the Middle East, going down this path of war is only going to lead us to more chaos, destruction and devastation.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
