Australia says Iran behind anti-Semitic attacks, expels ambassador

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday announced the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador, accusing Tehran of orchestrating anti-Semitic attacks on Australian soil.

Albanese said the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) confirmed Iran's involvement in attacks targeting Australia's Jewish community, including Melbourne's Adass Israel Synagogue and Sydney's Lewis' Continental Kitchen.

"These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil," the prime minister said. "They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community."

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said this marks the first time since World War II that Canberra has expelled an ambassador.

In addition to ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi, three other Iranian diplomats have been declared persona non grata and must leave Australia within seven days.

Iran rejects anti-Semitic claim

Iranian Foreign Office spokesman Ismail Baghai called the accusations unfounded and said his ministry is preparing a response, the Tasnim news agency reported.

Anti-Semitism has no place in Islam, Baghai said. "This concept is a Western invention and they themselves must answer for their historical past."

Australian embassy in Iran suspends operations

The Australian embassy in Tehran suspended its operations, Wong said, with all staff safely relocated to a third country. She urged Australians in Iran to leave immediately if it is safe to do so.

"I can also announce the government will legislate to list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, as a terrorist organization," Albanese said.

"The IRGC used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement. This is the sort of obfuscation and boundary blurring I warned about earlier this year," said ASIO director-general Mike Burgess.

Last October, the Jewish restaurant Lewis' Continental Kitchen in Sydney was severely damaged in an arson attack, though no one was injured.

A few weeks later, unknown perpetrators set fire to the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne. Both attacks left the Jewish community in fear.

Melbourne is home to the country's largest Jewish population, with around 55,000 Jews living there according to a 2021 census, the Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) has reported.

Sydney has the second-largest Jewish community, with about 47,000. The two major cities combined are home to some 84% of Australian Jews.