Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that Canberra supported the United States strike on Iran and called for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy, Reuters reports.

“The world has long agreed that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon and we support action to prevent that,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra.

Albanese said “the information has been clear” that Iran had enriched uranium to 60 per cent and “there is no other explanation for it to reach 60, other than engaging in a programme that wasn’t about civilian nuclear power”.

“Had Iran complied wth the very reasonable requests that were made, including by the IAEA, then circumstances would have been different,” said Albanese, referring to limitations on enrichment.

In a series of television and radio interviews, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the strike was a unilateral action by its security ally the United States, and Australia was joining calls from Britain and other countries for Iran to return to the negotiating table.

“We support action that the US has taken to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Wong said in a television interview with Seven Sunrise. “We do not want to see escalation,” she told reporters in Canberra.