SENIOR Australian government figures believe the United States is prepared to bomb Iran’s nuclear capability — perhaps as early as next month — and Australia could help identify possible targets.

It comes after US President Donald Trump threatened his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani with “consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before” over Twitter this week.

The ABC reports today senior figures within the Turnbull Government have anonymously claimed there is a real possibility the US could launch a strike on Iran — potentially as early as next month.

A senior security source has told the national broadcaster that Australia’s defence facilities — including the top-secret Pine Gap defence facility in the Northern Territory — could play a part in identifying targets in Iran.

British intelligence agencies would likely also play a part.

The source added that providing intelligence on Iran’s facilities was different to being part of an actual mission.

“Developing a picture is very different to actually participating in a strike,” the source told the ABC.

“Providing intelligence and understanding as to what is happening on the ground so that the Government and allied governments are fully informed to make decisions is different to active targeting.”

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has dismissed the report as “speculation”.

“The ABC, even before putting that story out, did not contact me or my office,” he told ABC radio this morning.

“They did not contact the Foreign Minister or her office, the Defence Minister or her office or the chief of the Defence Force.

“I have to say, I have no reason for believing that the story has any basis in fact.”

Asked what he thought Mr Trump’s attitude to Iran was, Mr Turnbull said the President had made his views on Iran “very clear to the whole world”.

The Pine Gap facility could reportedly help by directing American spy satellites, while spy agency the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation could also reportedly play a part.

Sources told the national broadcaster it’s unlikely Canada or New Zealand would play a part in any military action in Iran.

President Trump on Sunday sent an all-caps tweet to his Iranian counterpart, warning President Rouhani to “never, ever threaten the United States again”.

“We are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence and death. Be cautious!” he wrote.

Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded within hours: “Color us unimpressed”.

“The world heard even harsher bluster a few months ago,” Zarif wrote.

“And Iranians have heard them — albeit more civilized ones — for 40 yrs.

“We’ve been around for millennia & seen fall of empires, (including) our own, which lasted more than the life of some countries. Be cautious!”

Yesterday, Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the US’s relationship with Iran was a “matter for them” but she called on Iran to be a “force for peace and stability in the region”.

Her comments come after she met with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo at the annual AUSMIN talks in San Francisco this week, while Defence Minister Marise Payne met with her counterpart Jim Mattis.

Ms Bishop told ABC radio yesterday she had discussed Iran with Secretary Pompeo.

“We’re concerned about its ballistic missile program and we talked about ways of constructively engaging with Iran to prevent the development of that program,” she said.

“But more specifically, we talked about urging Iran to not support proxy groups, whether it’s in Syria, Yemen or elsewhere.”

President Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal in May. He is now calling for total denuclearisation, rather than a temporary freeze or roll back of Iran’s nuclear program.

The US will reinstate sanctions on Iran by November 4 as part of the push.