NZ supports ‘any actions’ to stop Iran getting nukes or hurting its people: Christopher Luxon
Monday, 2 March 2026
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says it is up to the United States and Israel to explain if their actions in Iran were legal, but New Zealand supported “any action” to stop Iran getting a nuclear weapon or harming its own people.
Luxon was speaking to media at his post-cabinet press conference on Monday following two days of conflict in the Middle East, sparked when the US and Israel launched a series of strikes against Iran.
The Government initially reacted with a written statement that “acknowledged” the reasoning behind the attacks without explicitly endorsing them, leading to a rebuke from former Prime Minister Helen Clark, who said the attacks were clearly a violation of international law.
Luxon said it was up to the US and Israel to explain how their attacks were lawful, and they would have access to intelligence that New Zealand did not.
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“This is the independent actions of two nation states that have their own intelligence and their own information. I can't second guess that. I'm not party to that. I don't receive that information to know on the basis of which they have seen to actually launch these attacks ‒ the legal basis or any other,” Luxon said.
He said the US had told the UN the attacks were justifiable under an article that allowed for self defence, but repeated that he wasn’t party to the information they had based that on ‒ and wouldn’t be asking the US to share it.
Luxon said that New Zealand had a “long-held” position across many Governments against the Iranian regime.
“We've had a long standing commitment under successive Governments that any actions that stops Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is a good thing, any actions … to stop them from sponsoring terrorism is a good thing, any actions that stops them from killing their own people is a good thing,” Luxon said.
He was asked to clarify if “anything” would include carpet bombing the country.
He said “we’re not saying that” and trailed off, before repeating that successive Governments had sought to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons.
The United States itself suggested as recently as June 2025 that the US had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, and its director of national intelligence told Congress in March 2025 that Iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons.
Luxon refused to be drawn on those earlier statements, again repeating that he was not party to the intelligence that the US and Israel were.
Asked what he made of the reports that a school in Iran had been hit by the bombing, Luxon said it would be up to the US and Israel to explain their actions.
He did not proffer an opinion on whether there were opposition forces ready to take over the governing of Iran.
“I've only seen what you've seen in terms of media reports, essentially to say that the Americans obviously feel that there is a leadership that potentially can emerge from here,” Luxon said.
“All I know is that the current regime since 1979 has brutally repressed its people. We all remember the story of that 22-year-old young woman who actually lost her life under the custody of the morality police because she wasn't wearing her hijab. That is a brutal administration.”
He would not share whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who until recently maintained an embassy in the country, agreed with the US assessment.
Hipkins ‘shocked’ by Luxon’s comments
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said New Zealand should be “principled” and stand up for an international system based on rules.
“It's clear the international rules based order is under threat. It is not being followed in this situation, and New Zealand should be principled and calling for a return to the rules that we rely on as a country and that the rest of the world should be able to rely on as well,” Hipkins said.
He said he was “shocked” to see the prime minister say that New Zealand would support “any actions” to stop Iran having a nuclear weapons.
“Successive New Zealand Governments have expressed significant concern about the Iranian regime, but that does not justify ‘any’ action, particularly when it breaches international law,” Hipkins said.
He would not be drawn on why his centre-left counterparts in Canada and Australia had decided to back the strikes, saying that was a question for them but New Zealand had often differed from its allies on these matters.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said on Sunday that Iran’s history of sponsoring terrorism was not an “excuse” for the strikes but an “explanation”.