Would NZ join ‘an illegal invasion’ of Iran? That question needs to be asked, Helen Clark says

Monday, 2 March 2026

The former PM said the possibility of New Zealand supporting a US-led mission inside Iran was something that needed to be put to the Government.

New Zealand must not militarily support “an illegal invasion” of Iran if the current conflict with the US and Israel continues to escalate, former prime minister Helen Clark says.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday night (NZ time) encouraged the Iranian population to “take over [their] government,” while US and Israeli air forces pounded sites across the country, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of other government officials.

But whether regime change can be achieved without military forces operating on the ground is an open question, and the possibility of New Zealand supporting such a mission was something that needed to be put to the Government, Clark said.

Former PM Helen Clark spoke with Stuff’s Samantha Hayes on Monday.

“Certainly, that’s a question that should be asked of the prime minister and defence ministers - would they put boots on the ground to back an illegal invasion,” she told Stuff’s Samantha Hayes on Monday.

“People will recall that in 2003 New Zealand did not take part in the invasion of Iraq because we knew that, without the authority of the [UN] Security Council, that invasion was illegal,” she added, referencing her own Government’s decision to withhold support for George W Bush’s military intervention in the Middle East.

The prime minister declined to comment on the legality of the US and Israel's open-ended attack on Iran.

Clark said New Zealand has made a “big stand” on supporting international law and the international rules-based order in the past, and that the Israeli and US strikes on Iran were a “clear breach” of the United Nations Charter.

“How can we in all consistency call out Russia for the illegal invasion of Ukraine if we are not prepared to apply the same principle to a case like this?,” she asked.

During his post-Cabinet press conference on Monday afternoon, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said New Zealand was “not best placed” to pass judgement on the US and Israeli attacks, and that the Government was “not party or proxy” to intelligence held by the Americans and Israelis that might have influenced their decision to launch strikes.

But Clark rubbished that position, saying no more evidence was required to deem the attacks illegal.

“The definition of what would be legal is, ‘Was there an imminent threat to the security of the United States and Israel?’ The answer to that is, clearly, ‘No’. Therefore, this becomes an act of aggression.”

‘We acknowledge’ US and Israeli actions

The Government has already faced criticism for choosing to neither expressly condemn nor support the strikes on Iran.

Helen Clark has criticised the Government’s stance on the Iran strikes.

Instead, it used the phrase “we acknowledge that the actions taken … by the US and Israel were designed to prevent Iran from continuing to threaten international peace and security” in an initial statement over the weekend.

Clark criticised that response from the Government, labelling it “a disgrace” in an online statement on Sunday, and accusing ministers of “servility” towards the US.

Luxon hit back at Clark on Monday morning, telling Newstalk ZB, “What is disgraceful is a regime that kills its own people the way [Iran] has.”

Asked about her accusation of servility, Clark told Hayes, “[In] the last two and a half years, the current Government has moved to realign New Zealand with American foreign policy positions. It seems to want to be in step with them, whatever they are.

“Now that is most unfortunate when it comes to something like this, when a friend, the US, has clearly breached international law.”