Canberra, Sydney – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Tuesday that his country had decided to expel the Iranian ambassador.
This came against the backdrop of Tehran’s involvement in two anti-Semitic attacks inside Australia.
Albanese said in a press conference that the Iranian government “directly directed at least two anti-Semitic attacks in Australia”.
He stressed that this behavior was unacceptable and undermined his country’s democratic values.
He added that work at the Australian Embassy in Tehran has been suspended, and that all Australian diplomats are now safe inside a third country.
The Revolutionary Guard is listed as a terrorist organization
The Australian Prime Minister also announced that he would begin designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization, in a move that escalates the diplomatic confrontation between Canberra and Tehran.
Albanese pointed out that Australian intelligence services linked Iran to two attacks targeting a restaurant in Sydney and a mosque in Melbourne.
The two cities have witnessed a sharp rise in incidents described as “anti-Semitic” since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas in 2023.
“The Australian Security Intelligence Agency has gathered enough reliable intelligence to reach a very disturbing conclusion,” Albanese told reporters. The Iranian government has launched at least two such attacks. Iran tried to hide its involvement, but the agency’s assessment confirms that it was behind those attacks.
For her part, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a press conference that Australia had given the Iranian ambassador and three other Iranian officials seven days to leave the country, in the first expulsion of an ambassador undertaken by Australia since World War II.
Australia also withdrew its ambassador to Iran and suspended its embassy operations in Tehran.
The Foreign Minister stressed, “We took this decision because Iran’s actions are completely unacceptable.”
The Australian Security Intelligence Organization explained that the Iranian government was behind an attack targeting the Jewish food company Louis Continental Kitchen in Sydney last October.
As well as the attack on the Adas Israel Synagogue in Melbourne last December (December).
Prior to the announcement, the Australian government informed Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi of the decision to expel him.
It also decided to withdraw its diplomats working in Iran to a third country, Albanese said.
She explained that Australia will maintain diplomatic lines with Iran to protect the interests of Australians in this country.
Australia has had an embassy in Tehran since 1968.
