‘No one would have misspoken’ about Iran if you spoke to me rather than Luxon, Peters says

Wednesday, 4 March 2026

Foreign Minister Winston Peters says there would have been no misunderstanding about New Zealand’s position on the war against Iran if he had been asked to articulate it, rather than Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

During Monday’s post-Cabinet press conference, Luxon said New Zealand was “not best placed” to pass judgement on the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran, but that he would support “any action” to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons - one of the stated reasons for the assault.

Parliament held an urgent debate on the escalating crisis in the Middle East, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon under pressure to clarify New Zealand’s stance on Iran after misspeaking about actions against the regime.

On Tuesday, Luxon said he misspoke - the Government would not support “any action,” such as carpet bombing the country, to achieve such a goal. “Obviously not any action,” he clarified.

Speaking to Stuff’s Lisette Reymer on Wednesday, Peters said he, as the minister of foreign affairs, should have been the one questioned about the Government’s position.

“Why didn’t you call the foreign affairs minister, then no one would have misspoken, would they,” Peters said. “Why didn’t you and your journalistic colleagues call the foreign affairs minister, the person who’s in charge of these issues, and saved all the agony of misunderstanding?”

Peters said, however, that Luxon’s misstatement was not of great importance - it was “a storm in a teacup, really,” he said.

“You know what it looks like, it’s the mainstream media and our political opponents having a ‘got you’ moment,” he said.

Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters in the House of Representatives.

As to the state of the conflict, Peters said Iran was attacking its neighbours across the region in retaliation to the US-Israeli operation, which was “an eye-opener to the West” about how “extremist” Iran’s government was.

The war had followed what he said was “massive provocations” from Iran in recent decades, appearing to give credence to the arguments for the assault put forward by US President Donald Trump.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters speaks with Stuff about Iran’s actions, rising regional tensions and what the escalating Middle East conflict means for New Zealand. He also addresses consular concerns and US pressure.

Despite the conflict, the “rules-based order” wasn’t a thing of the past, Peters said, but it was a system that somehow needed to be enforced, and Iran had been violating the rules without punishment.

“The ‘rules-based order’ begins with the premise of the rules being obeyed,” he said. “If you don’t have that, you have chaos.”

Watch the full interview below: