Iran war: PM pushed for stronger support of US strikes, emails released by Winston Peters reveal
Thursday, 30 April 2026
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has accused Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters of working against the “national interest”, after the release of a series of emails about the Iran war.
Luxon had struggled to articulate New Zealand’s position on the war when it broke out in late February, most notably repeatedly stating New Zealand supported “any actions” to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Emails released by Peters to the NZ Herald under the Official Information Act now show Luxon wanted “NZ to move towards explicit support” of the war days after it started, instead of its more ambiguous position where it “acknowledged” the strikes without condemning or supporting them.
Peters’ team pushed back against this, warning New Zealand “should hold [its] nerve and exhibit prudence here, not panic.”
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“I've discussed with MFA [Winston Peters] the PM's preference for more explicit public support of the US' action,” the staffer writes.
“MFA does not wish for NZ to move towards explicit support, like Australia / Canada have expressed.”
“He sees value, from a foreign policy perspective, in walking the careful line we established yesterday via the written statement and in his stand up - which neither condemns nor gives explicit support to the US action.”
Luxon got into a verbal mess when attempting to explain New Zealand’s position in the days surrounding the emails.
At his post-cabinet media conference he suggested that New Zealand had long supported “any action” to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons and was unable to answer when asked if that would include “carpet bombing” the country. He later walked back that statement.
Luxon’s office says the release of the documents “mischaracterise” the prime minister’s position and he was simply trying to “challenge” the advice he had received.
“In this case, he sought to test New Zealand’s position against that of Canada and Australia. The public statements made by the Government reflect the PM’s position. If they didn’t, they would not have been made,” a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said.
The prime minister met with Peters on Wednesday night after learning of the release of the documents and chided him over the matter. Emails such as this would typically be redacted before release.
“We were surprised to see Winston Peters’ office release internal discussions like these to the media, as our office was not consulted on this,” the spokesman said.
“The decision to release these discussions to the media clearly put politics ahead of the national interest. The PM would expect Mr Peters to show better judgement after more than 40 years in politics. The PM met with Mr Peters this evening to make that point and Mr Peters acknowledged he made a mistake.”
A spokesman for Peters told the NZ Herald Luxon’s push to more fully support the US strikes was “imprudent” and “counter to New Zealand’s national interest”.