“We act by taking the advice of ASIO, as well as the Australian Federal Police. We got the advice on Monday morning and acted as soon as possible,” Albanese said in parliament.
“What we’re seeing here [from the Coalition] is a political response, which is entirely inappropriate.”
Government sources said the legal change required to list the corps was complex and might take weeks.
In response to questions about this story, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said: “This couldn’t be done without changing the law. We’ve now had an attack on Australian soil, and we’re changing the law.”
As Iran’s ambassador to Australia, Sadegh had already drawn attention for praising slain Hezbollah terror boss Hassan Nasrallah as a “remarkable leader”. Sadegh was given notice to leave Australia on Tuesday, the first ambassador to be expelled from Australia since World War II.
Sadegh moved between his residence and the embassy on Wednesday, and has until next Tuesday to leave the country. He did not take questions, and Australian intelligence officials believe the embassy was not involved in commissioning the antisemitic attacks.
Three Iranian diplomats will remain in Iran’s embassy in Canberra after this week, to assist Iranian Australians with visa requests.
Senator Claire Chandler.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Coalition senator Claire Chandler, who led a Senate inquiry that called for the revolutionary guards to be listed in 2023, obtained documents under freedom of information that she said proved Labor considered listing them at the time. The documents seen by this masthead show a redacted “nomination form” and a “statement of reasons”, which Chandler claimed were a demonstration that the government was mulling a terror designation.
Liberal frontbencher Julian Leeser, said Labor was slow to move on Iran, though he did not say how a terror listing could have prevented the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue and kosher catering business in Sydney.
“In February 2023 … I stood at this dispatch box and I offered the opposition’s support two and a half years ago,” Leeser said in parliament.
“[Labor] never get it right. They always need to be dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing.”
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Home affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie said on Wednesday he pushed for the change in the last Coalition government and “it wasn’t listed – but here we are, the world has changed”.
An Israeli government spokesman overnight suggested that the revelation of Iranian state involvement in the attacks had been prompted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal criticism of Albanese last week.
“[Netanyahu] made those comments because he did not believe that the actions of the Australian government had gone anywhere near far enough to address the issues of antisemitism,” David Mencer said.
Iran denied involvement in the attacks and Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi accused Albanese of appeasing Israel. “Iran is paying the price for the Australian people’s support for Palestine,” he claimed on social media, without evidence. He claimed the move would embolden Israel.
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