Australia severed diplomatic ties with Iran on Tuesday after Canberra’s spy agency found that Tehran had orchestrated at least two antisemitic attacks in the country, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
According to the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the Iranian government backed an arson attack on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company in Sydney, in October 2024 and one on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue two months later. The latter attack injured one congregant.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. “They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community. It is totally unacceptable.”
Australia’s spy agency concluded that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed people in the country to commit these crimes, “including people who are criminals and members of organized crime gangs to do their bidding or direct their bidding,” said agency chief Mike Burgess. Police have already arrested at least one suspect tied to the Sydney fire and two individuals accused of torching the Melbourne temple.
In response to the spy agency’s findings, Albanese ordered the expulsion of Iranian Ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi within the next seven days. This is the first time that Canberra has expelled an ambassador since World War II. In addition, Albanese closed the Australian Embassy in Tehran and withdrew Australian diplomats posted in the country as well as urged all Australian citizens in Iran to “strongly consider leaving as soon as possible, if it is safe to do so,” warning that they are “at a high risk of arbitrary detention or arrest.” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said that Canberra plans to keep some diplomatic channels open to advance Australia’s interests in the country.
Albanese also said he plans to push for legislation that would designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Canberra has previously resisted calls to do so because of the IRGC’s role as a government entity. However, several of Australia’s allies have already deemed the IRGC a terrorist group, including the United States and Canada.
Iran denied Australia’s allegations, with Tehran’s Foreign Ministry saying that antisemitism has no place in Iranian culture. The ministry suggested that Canberra’s decision was “influenced by internal developments,” including recent widespread protests across Australia in support of Palestinians. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi went further, calling Albanese a “weak politician” in a post on X and saying, “Iran is paying the price for the Australian people’s support for Palestine.”
Iran also vowed a “reciprocal reaction” to Australia’s diplomatic moves, though it is unclear what that may look like.
Notably, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also branded Albanese a “weak politician” last week after Canberra announced that it plans to recognize an independent Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Still, Israel praised Albanese’s decision to cut ties with Iran. “Iran’s regime is not only a threat to Jews or Israel, it endangers the entire free world, including Australia,” the Israeli Embassy in Australia posted on X on Tuesday.
Australia is home to roughly 120,000 Jews and hosts the largest per capita share of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel, according to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. Antisemitic attacks in Australia have risen since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
