Tehran has rejected Canberra’s claim it was behind two arson incidents targeting its Jewish community
Australia is expelling Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other diplomats over alleged ‘anti-Semitic’ attacks in the country that were supposedly orchestrated by Tehran, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced. The Islamic Republic quickly denied the allegations.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Albanese said that the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had gathered “credible intelligence” linking at least two arson attacks last year to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – an elite wing of the Iranian military. The perpetrators allegedly set fire to a Jewish-owned restaurant in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne.
The prime minister added that a potential Iranian connection was being investigated in relation to several other attacks as well.
According to Albanese, Canberra has also suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran and relocated its diplomatic staff to a third country.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Australian nationals to leave Iran.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi denied the allegations, noting that his country is home to a sizeable Jewish community and dozens of synagogues.
“I am not in the habit of joining causes with wanted war criminals, but [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is right about one thing: Australia’s PM is indeed a ‘weak politician’,” Araghchi wrote.
He was apparently referring to a post by Netanyahu last Tuesday, in which the Israeli prime minister accused Albanese of betraying “Israel and abandoning Australia’s Jews” after Canberra announced that it would recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
“History will remember Albanese for what he is: a weak politician,” Netanyahu wrote at the time.
Israel’s heavy-handed military campaign in Gaza has drawn widespread condemnation worldwide, with renewed calls in countries that have traditionally backed Israel to recognize Palestinian statehood.
