Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador on Tuesday, accusing the country of being behind antisemitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.
Intelligence services reached the “deeply disturbing conclusion” that Iran directed at least two antisemitic attacks, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
The prime minister stated that Tehran was linked to the arson attack on a kosher café in Sydney’s Bondi suburb in October 2024, and said authorities had also connected it to the fire at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024.
The blaze at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne was one of the most destructive in a string of antisemitic incidents following Hamas’s October 7th, 2023, attack on Israel.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Albanese said.
Australia declared Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi “persona non grata” and ordered him and three other officials to leave the country within seven days.
Australia also withdrew its own ambassador to Iran and suspended operations at the embassy in Tehran, which opened in 1968.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said it was the first time in the post-war period that Australia had expelled an ambassador.
Canberra will maintain diplomatic lines with Iran to advance the interests of Australians, Wong said.
