Australia expels Iranian diplomats over antisemitic attacks

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

Australia has taken the unprecedented step of expelling several Iranian diplomats. According to Canberra, the diplomats coordinated violent, antisemitic attacks and now have seven days to leave the country.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday announced that his government had expelled Iranian Ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi and three other embassy employees for their involvement in antisemitic crimes.

Albanese said not all antisemitic crimes in the country could be tied back to Iran, but noted that Australia's Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had found that Iran had coordinated attacks.

Albanese also announced that, in response to the hostile behavior, Australia would close its embassy in Tehran.

According to Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong, all Australian embassy staff had been transferred from Iran to secure locations in third countries before the closure of the mission was announced.

Wong advised Australians against traveling to Iran and encouraged those currently in the country to leave, citing the arbitrary detention of foreign nationals in Iran as a real threat.

Why did Australia expel Iranian diplomats?

The ASIO said Iran was involved in coordinating at least one attack on a  synagogue in the city of Melbourne and a kosher restaurant in Sydney.

The domestic intelligence service contends that Iran may be behind several more attacks.

ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said Tehran had used a complex network of cut-outs in order to cover its own involvement in the attacks, adding that he had warned of this at the beginning of the year.

Albanese: Iran seeking to 'undermine social cohesion'

In his announcement, Albanese condemned Iran's malign activity, saying: "These were dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil. They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community, it is totally unacceptable."

Since the beginning of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza in 2023, Australia has experienced numerous antisemitic attacks, with vehicles, schools, homes, businesses and houses of worship all targeted for vandalism or arson.

Interior Minister Tony Burke said that "it is true that no one was physically injured" in the attacks, but that "does not mean that no one suffered damages."

Burke added that Iran's activities in Australia had "reached an entirely unacceptable new level," before announcing that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would be added to Australia's list of terrorist organizations. - DW News - Jon Shelton with AP, dpa, Reuters