Albanese accuses Iran of organising two antisemitic attacks in Australia
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused Iran of organising two antisemitic attacks and said his country is cutting off diplomatic relations with Tehran in response.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) concluded the Iranian government had directed arson attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company, in Sydney in October last year and on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December last year, Mr Albanese said.
Iran’s government denied the allegations.
There has been a steep rise in antisemitic incidents in Sydney and Melbourne since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023.
Australian authorities have previously said they suspect that foreign actors are paying local criminals-for-hire to carry out attacks in the country.
Police have already arrested at least one suspect in the Sydney cafe fire investigation and two suspects directly accused of torching the Melbourne synagogue.
“ASIO has now gathered enough credible intelligence to reach a deeply disturbing conclusion,” Mr Albanese told reporters. “The Iranian government directed at least two of these attacks. Iran has sought to disguise its involvement but ASIO assesses it was behind the attacks.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” he said. “They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community. It is totally unacceptable.”
Shortly before the announcement, the Australian government told Iran’s ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi that he will be expelled. It also withdrew Australian diplomats posted in Iran to a third country, Mr Albanese said.
An alert to Australians in Iran noted the embassy’s closure and urged them to “strongly consider leaving as soon as possible, if it is safe to do so”.
“Foreigners in Iran, including Australians and dual Australian-Iranian nationals, are at a high risk of arbitrary detention or arrest,” the warning read.
Australia updated its warning to travellers to its highest level of “do not travel” to Iran.
Iran has a long history of detaining Westerners or those with ties abroad to use as bargaining chips in negotiations.
Foreign minister Penny Wong said that Canberra would keep some diplomatic lines open to Tehran to advance Australia’s interests. She added that it was the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador since the Second World War.
Mr Albanese said that Australia will legislate to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation.
Australia’s law makes providing support to a listed terrorist organisation a crime.
The government has previously rejected calls to list the Revolutionary Guard under existing terrorism laws because it is a government entity.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has been accused of carrying out attacks abroad over the decades of its existence, though it broadly denies any involvement.
The Guard’s Quds, or Jerusalem, Force is its expeditionary arm and is accused by Western nations of using local militants and criminals in the past to target dissidents and Israelis abroad.
Iran denied Australia’s allegations through its Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei, who tried to link it to the challenges Australia faced with Israel after announcing it would recognise a Palestinian state.
“It looks like that the action, which is against Iran, diplomacy and the relations between the two nations, is a compensation for the criticism that the Australians had against the Zionist regime,” Mr Baghaei claimed.
The move against Iran came a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branded Mr Albanese a “weak politician who had betrayed Israel” by recognising a Palestinian state.
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