It isn’t always easy to keep up with what’s happening in the US. “Shorter America” is a series where Dr Emma Shortis loops you in on what’s going on in America and shares news and analysis that you can trust.
Fri 6 Mar 2026 22.00 AEDT
Photo: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
On Friday, the Australian Prime Minister confirmed there were three Australian crew aboard the US submarine that sunk an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. That strike killed at least 80 people, and left the rest to drown. The Prime Minister insisted “that no Australian personnel have participated in any offensive action against Iran.”
This week:
I wrote about this question for The Point on Friday – materially, the answer is “yes”. There is no “not participating” in a submarine. Aukus has dragged us in to an illegal war of choice, led by an administration unconstrained by “stupid rules of engagement”.
What are we doing?
I have to confess that my attempts to answer that question have taken up most of my headspace this week. I’ll have more analysis for you over the next few days, which also means this week’s column will be slightly shorter than usual – I hope you’ll forgive me.
In Iran, Trump is doing his worst.
In Foreign Policy, Ali Hashem outlines why “decapitating” the Iranian regime won’t work. In Foreign Affairs, Stephen Pomper has a piece on the erosion of constraints on the president’s ability to make war. In The Nation, Spencer Ackerman has a companion piece on the longer history of how that erosion of constraints – particularly via the War on Terror – paved the way for Trump.
When I wrote that piece about Aukus and Iran above, my dear colleague Allan Behm added a line for me:
“Trump and Netanyahu have normalised the sight of little coffins.”
I usually try to find something uplifting or joyful to add here, because we all need it. I hope you’ll forgive me a second time, but I’m not sure I can this week.
My friend Daniel James also has a piece about this over on The Spencer Street End: “the Deaths of the Schoolgirls in Minab”.
Take care of each other x
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Former environment minister Peter Garrett will lead a public inquiry into the Australian Government’s $368 billion AUKUS defence pact, amid growing concerns over the lack of scrutiny surrounding the nation’s most expensive defence project. The independent inquiry will run for five months, with the Midnight Oil frontman and environmental campaigner saying there has never been a more critical time to uncover the facts.
Australia will now receive three second-hand Virginia-class, nuclear-powered submarines in the coming years, instead of the original deal of two used vessels and one brand new sub. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles spun this as a welcome streamlining of the fleet that would simplify its supply chain, as well as the management and sustainment of these complex warships.
