The White House is standing by its core objectives for Operation Epic Fury, which it says does not include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, as ongoing disruption to the oil route pushes up fuel costs in New Zealand.
Asked about reopening the Strait of Hormuz not being a core objective for the United States, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she remained “disappointed that New Zealand is bearing the brunt of a conflict that is not of our making”.
In a recent press conference, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked by a Wall Street Journal journalist: “Would President Trump declare victory and wind down military operations if the core objectives are met, but still passage remains quite slow through the Strait?”
Leavitt listed the core objectives of ‘Operation Epic Fury’ as: Destroying the Iranian Navy, destroying their ballistic missiles, dismantling their defence industrial infrastructure and preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“The full reopening of the Strait is something the administration is working towards, but the core objectives of the operation have been clearly defined for the American people by the Commander-in-Chief [President Donald Trump].”
Willis said it was “going to damage the world the longer that Strait is closed, and it is leading to high petrol and diesel prices and damage to our families, our businesses and our economy”.
“New Zealand continues to call for negotiations and for conflict to end, because the sooner it ends, the better it is for Kiwis and their cost of living.
"I'm yet to meet a New Zealander who says, ‘Thank you for the conflict," Willis said.
2 Comments
New Zealand is bearing the brunt of a conflict that is not of our making
Um, the immediate battle, no.
But the concerted pressure on 'Persia' so as to get at the oil underneath the incumbents?
Yes, we rode in on the coattails of that. Anna - get a hold of, and read two Perkins books: Confessions of an Economic Hit-man and The Secret History of the American Empire.
We chose to benefit from and ignore, that. Last time I checked, ignorance was no excuse.
Why not use this 'not of our making' event as an opportunity to make NZ self sufficient in energy.
It's a national tragedy that we're still reliant on imported fossil fuels given the abundant renewable energy resources we have at our disposal. Yes there will always be specific industry demand for diesel, kerosene etc but these are at the margins. Joe Blogs doesn't need to drive a diesel ute, there are plenty of alternatives.
Chinese solar and battery tech is getting cheap as chips. If it takes subsidies to encourage widespread adoption of solar panels and EVs, so be it. Legislate for net metering to make distributed solar generation worthwhile. Invest in geothermal for dry year baseload.
All it takes is political will. Someone needs to stare down the generator's lobby. Otherwise we'll forever be at the mercy of orange idiots and fundamentalist nut jobs, while the govt of the day trots out the same old feeble 'not of our making' excuse.
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