Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: A day after the new US Ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, accused Paris of tolerating antisemitism, which France rejected, Australia on Tuesday announced it would expel Iran’s Ambassador.
Canberra has given seven days to Tehran’s Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other officials to leave Australia, following the withdrawal of its own diplomats from Iran. On its part, Iran has “absolutely rejected” the allegations, the media reported.
Australia’s move followed after allegations that Iran directed antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Its intelligence services linked Iran to an arson attack on a cafe in Sydney in October 2024, and another on a synagogue in Melbourne in December, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a press conference on Tuesday.
The two incidents were “attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community.”
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said the decision to expel the envoy was “driven by Australia’s domestic policies.”
However, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) chief Mike Burgess said his teams had uncovered links “between the alleged crimes and the commanders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC,” following a “painstaking,” months-long investigation, the BBC reported.
“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 told reporters.
The IRGC had “used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement” in the attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney on October 20, and Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue on December 6, 2024.
Australia’s intelligence services had also found evidence Iran was likely to be behind other antisemitic incidents in Australia, which has seen attacks on Jewish schools, homes, vehicles and synagogues since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, Iran’s ally, and the ensuing war in Gaza.
The findings revealed on Tuesday were “deeply disturbing,” Albanese said, describing the two incidents as “extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression.”
In the second incident, a number of worshippers were forced to flee as the fire took hold of the synagogue, which was built by Holocaust survivors in the 1960s.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said it was the first time since the Second World War that Australia had expelled an ambassador.
The ambassador was not found to have any links to the attacks, Burgess stressed.
Wong also urged Australians not to travel to Iran and called for any citizens in the country to leave now if it is safe to do so.
Albanese said his government would also designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.
Israel’s embassy in Canberra has welcomed the moves against Iran, which Israel fought a 12-day war with in June.
“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.