Australian PM blames Iran for perpetrating antisemitic attacks, expels Iranian ambassador

 Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accused Iran of orchestrating at least two antisemitic attacks on the country and as a punitive measure will expel the Iranian ambassador to the country.
According to Axios, while addressing the local media, Albanese that Canberra had obtained “credible intelligence” from its national intelligence service – the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) – of Tehran’s involvement in two antisemitic attacks in the country, one in Melbourne and another in Sydney in 2024.
The Australian embassy in Tehran has suspended its operations and Australian officials told Ahmad Sadeghi, Iran’s ambassador to Australia, that he would be expelled — the first time such an expulsion has happened, noted Foreign Minister Penny Wong at the briefing.
She further urged Australians to not go to Iran as the government’s ability to protect them would be “extremely limited.”
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil. They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community,” Albanese said.
“It is totally unacceptable, and the Australian government is taking strong and decisive action in response,” he concluded.
According to Mike Burgess, director-general of the ASIO, said that Iran was behind the arson attacks at Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue of Melbourne, specifically naming the country’s paramilitary unit- the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
He further said that it was increasingly likely that additional such targeted attacks on the Jewish community have taken place in several other places in the country.
“Our painstaking investigation uncovered and unpicked the links between the alleged crimes and the commanders in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC,” Burgess said.
“The IRGC used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement.”
Albanese said that Canberra would now officially be labelling the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.
Iran has not issued a comment on this matter.
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