Australian leaders will be closely watching US-Iran peace talks in Pakistan over the weekend, while community groups call for the human impact not to be lost.
Questions are being raised about how long a ceasefire can be maintained and what a strategic withdrawal by the US would look like.
Middle Eastern community groups in Australia say much of the loss of innocent lives and destruction of civilian infrastructure amounts to war crimes which are not being acknowledged by Australia's leaders.
Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles described the weekend's peace talks as "incredibly important," saying Australia would like to see the ceasefire become permanent.
“What we need to see … moving forward is for this ceasefire to become permanent and for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened and the global fuel supply chain to be returned to normal,” he told ABC Radio on Thursday.
"That's clearly where the global national interest lies - it's very much where Australia's national interest lies."
However, Associate Professor in International Relations at UNSW, Jessica Genauer said a temporary ceasefire between US and Iran so far had proven "exceptionally fragile," and that continued hostilities between Israel and Lebanon made a resolution even more difficult.
"I expect that out of the weekend we might see a continued agreement to cease hostilities and continue talking, but I definitely do not expect that we're going to see any kind of substantial political agreement coming out of this weekend," she said.
Iran is entering the talks with conditions including it would continue enriching uranium, for sanctions to be lifted, and to have control over the Strait of Hormuz, which Prof Genauer says the US would not be able to agree to.
"The two sides are still so far apart, and I don't think that ultimately either side are going to compromise enough on any of those three issues," she said.
Masoomeh Alaibakhsh from the Benevolent Iranian Women's Association will take part in a vigil outside the Iranian embassy in Canberra on Sunday to raise awareness of what she described as "war crimes".
The Iranian-Australian told AAP it was difficult to sleep at night thinking about the widespread devastation so far, including the bombing of a girl's school in southern Iran which the United Nations says reportedly killed about 150 people, including many students.
"You can never forgive those who attacked and caused this catastrophe to happen," Dr Alaibakhsh said.
"Even if a permanent cease fire could be in place forever in the region, those ... children will never go back to school or to their homes."
