Iran’s ambassador to Australia will be expelled and all diplomatic relations to be severed with Iran after the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused the country of orchestrating at least two antisemitic attacks within Australia.
The Australian prime minister revealed that Iran was found to be linked to attacks on a restaurant in Sydney in October – on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company – and on Melbourne’s Addas Israel synagogue in December last year.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict in 2023, antisemitic incidents in both cities have escalated sharply.
Before the announcement on Tuesday, Albanese said the Australian government informed Iran’s ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi that he would be expelled from the country, while Australian diplomats stationed in Iran have been relocated to a third nation, reports UNB/AP.
The government of Iran has not reacted to the news immediately.
Albanese stated that Australia’s Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) had gathered sufficient credible evidence, leading to the “deeply disturbing conclusion” that Iran was responsible for directing at least two of these assaults. “Iran has sought to disguise its involvement but ASIO assesses it was behind the attacks,” Albanese told reporters, referring to the main domestic spy agency.
Moreover, the Australian government is set to introduce legislation to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, Albanese added.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” he commented.
The move against Iran came a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Albanese a “weak politician” as Australia announced it would be recognising a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly in September, which Netanyahu claimed was a “betrayal to Israel.” Consequently, visas for Australian and Israeli officials were cancelled.