New Zealand has called on the US to send fuel tankers to the Pacific to help alleviate some of the significant economic and fuel pressure caused by the war in the Middle East.
Winston Peters, New Zealand’s foreign minister, met the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, in Washington on Tuesday, where they discussed bilateral relations, the war in Iran and the Pacific.
After the meeting, Peters said he had made sure the US understood the “significant economic impacts on New Zealand and Pacific arising from the war”.
“Not just the New Zealand economy, but to the Pacific economies that we have so much responsibility for,” Peters told the national broadcaster RNZ. “We left all that very clearly in their mind as concerns we had.”
They had had a “serious discussion” over how the US might help, Peters said, including asking the US to “get some ancillary tankers ready and get them to New Zealand to spread it around the Pacific as fast as we possibly can”.
He said: “We asked them: don’t leave it to when it happens, get ready just in case it’s going to happen. We had a very positive discussion on that basis.”
Pacific nations are especially vulnerable to fuel supply disruptions and rising costs due to their reliance on imported fuel.
In March, Pacific leaders appealed to foreign partners for help with oil supplies. The Samoan prime minister, La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt, asked New Zealand if it was possible to divert fuel to the Island nation in case of crisis, while the Tongan prime minister, Lord Fakafanua, said New Zealand and Australia were sharing intelligence to help his country prepare for shortages.
Following Peters’ and Rubio’s meeting, the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire after a last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan, canceling an ultimatum from Donald Trump for Iran to surrender or face widespread destruction.
Peters refused to comment on the US president’s threat to annihilate the entirety of Iranian civilisation should Iran’s government ignore his deadline to reopen the strait of Hormuz. “I don’t make comments on what presidents and prime ministers say … It’s time for cool heads and not make a rush to judgment we will regret.”
New Zealand’s relationship with the US was “excellent”, Peters said, but when asked if the two nations were close friends, he laughed. “Respectful understandings amongst each other is more important, and we’ve got that.”
