‘Acts of aggression’: Australia expels Iran ambassador
Dominic Giannini |
Banishment of the Iranian ambassador from Australia over the country’s links to anti-Semitic firebombings in Melbourne and Sydney has been hailed for sending a “powerful message”.
Iranian Australians, Jewish groups and politicians across the political aisle welcomed the government’s tough diplomatic action.
The nation’s premier intelligence organisation had “credible intelligence” the Iranian government directed at least two attacks and likely further ones, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
ASIO director-general Mike Burgess linked Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the firebombing attacks against Melbourne’s Addas Synagogue and Sydney’s Lewis Continental Kitchen through criminal proxies in 2024.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Mr Albanese said alongside the federal police commissioner, director-general and senior ministers in Canberra on Tuesday.
“They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community.”
The Iranian ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi and three diplomats have been expelled and Australia’s mission in Tehran closed, with diplomats moved to a third country and operations suspended in response to the attacks.
It’s the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II.
Australian Jewish groups welcomed the federal government’s response, saying it was important to take strong action against the Iranian regime for the anti-Semitic attacks.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said Israel’s enemies were Australia’s enemies as Iran deliberately targeted Jewish Australians.
“We are outraged that a foreign actor perpetrated acts of terror on our soil,” he said.
The community may find solace in the revelation but “there will be great anxiety that we have been targeted in such a callous and calculated way, by a ruthless and violent foreign force, because of who we are”, Mr Aghion said.
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said the government’s actions sent “a powerful and principled message that terrorism, foreign interference and hate have no place in Australia”.
The attacks weren’t directed through the Iranian embassy in Australia but by the Revolutionary Guard through “a complex web of proxies” overseas, including organised crime groups, Mr Burgess said.
“ASIO is still investigating possible Iranian involvement in a number of other attacks but I want to stress we do not believe the regime is responsible for every act of anti-Semitism in Australia,” he said.
The Revolutionary Guard will be listed as a terrorist organisation once urgent legislation passes parliament.
Australia’s criminal code makes it an offence to provide support to a listed terrorist organisation.
The government hadn’t previously listed the Revolutionary Guard under existing terrorism laws because it was a government entity.
Prominent Iranian Australian and Ryde councillor Tina Kordrostami said listing of the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation was overdue.
“We have lived through the intimidation, harassment and attempts to fracture our community long before they entered the national conversation,” she said of the Iranian regime’s human rights abuses.
“The IRGC is not confined to Iran’s borders, its networks extend into our diaspora communities, spreading fear, silencing voices and undermining unity.”
The coalition said it would support any legislation, branding the Revolutionary Guard’s actions as “one of the most egregious acts of foreign interference against our nation since the darkest days of the Cold War”.
“These acts of egregious foreign interference are brazen attempts to cleave apart our social cohesion, to turn neighbour against neighbour and Australian against Australian,” Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told parliament.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said Iran’s actions were “deeply disturbing and utterly unacceptable” while his Victorian counterpart Jacinta Allan said the aftermath of the synagogue’s firebombing shattered peace in Melbourne.
AAP
