Australia expels Iranian envoy over antisemitic attacks

Australia issued its first such expulsion since World War Two on Tuesday, accusing Iran of carrying out two antisemitic arson attacks in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne. The country also handed Tehran’s ambassador seven days to leave the country.

Since the start of the Israel-Gaza conflict in October 2023, antisemitic vandalism and arson have attacked Australian houses, schools, synagogues, and automobiles, while occurrences of Islamophobia have increased. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has obtained reliable information suggesting Iran was responsible for at least two strikes, according to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Albanese told a press briefing. “They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community.”

Iran had sought to “disguise its involvement” in last year’s attacks on a kosher restaurant in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, Albanese said. No injuries were reported in the attacks.

A request for response from Iran’s embassy in Canberra was not immediately answered.
According to Albanese, Australia has ceased operations at its embassy in Tehran and all of its diplomats are safe in a third country. The country’s security agency stated that it was likely that Iran has ordered additional strikes.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Tehran will be designated as a terrorist organization by the government,” Albanese continued.
In Australia’s first expulsion of an envoy since World War Two, Foreign Minister Penny Wong gave Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three Iranian officials seven days to go.

“Iran’s actions are completely unacceptable,” she told the briefing.

The IRGC was directing people in Australia to undertake crimes, said Mike Burgess, director general of the security agency.

“They’re just using cut-outs, including people who are criminals and members of organised crime gangs to do their bidding or direct their bidding,” he added. Israel’s embassy in Australia welcomed the action against its major rival Iran.

“Iran’s regime is not only a threat to Jews or Israel, it endangers the entire free world, including Australia,” it said in a statement on X.