By Courtney Gould and Joshua Boscaini for ABC News
Anthony Albanese says Iran was behind the attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne, and Continental Kitchen in Sydney.
Photo: Mike Bowers / AFP
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has moved to expel Iran’s ambassador, alleging the country directed antisemitic attacks in Australia.
In a media conference this afternoon, Albanese said the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had confirmed that the Iranian government was behind antisemitic attacks against the Australian Jewish community.
He said Iran was behind the attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne, and Continental Kitchen in Sydney, and that it likely directed attacks in Australia.
“These were extraordinary and 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,” the Australian PM said.
He said Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi had been expelled from Australia.
He said the Australian embassy in Tehran had suspended its operations, and all diplomats were safely in a third country.
Albanese said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will be listed as a terrorist organisation.
ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said his agency now assessed the Iranian government directed at least two “and likely more attacks” on Jewish interests in Australia.
“In this year’s annual threat assessment, I warned Australia’s complex, challenging and changing security environment is becoming more dynamic, diverse and degraded,” he said.
“Unfortunately all three of these characteristics apply in this case,” he said.
Burgess said ASIO’s investigation “uncovered and unpicked the links between the alleged crimes and the commanders in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps”.
“The IRGC used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement. This is the kind of boundary blurring I warned about earlier this year.”
‘Put Australian lives in danger’
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other officials had been declared persona non grata and will be required to leave Australia within seven days.
This is the first time in Australia’s postwar period that Canberra has expelled an ambassador, Wong said.
Wong said Australia will continue to maintain some diplomatic lines with Tehran.
She has urged Australians not to travel to Iran, and has urged any Australians in the country to leave now if it was safe to do so.
“Iran has sought to undermine the cohesion of our community, they have tried to divide the Australian community, and they have done so with acts of aggression that not only sought to terrify Australians, but put Australian lives in danger.
“Keeping Australians safe is our number one priority. There is no doubt that these extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil have crossed a line,” she said.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said it was true that no-one was injured in the attacks, but “it is not true that no-one is harmed”.
“There’s antisemitism in Australia.
“It’s real, it’s debilitating, yet this attack was driven by antisemitism that originated in Iran, that said, nothing changes the fact that it was an antisemitic attack and nothing changes the fact the impact is identical.”
Burke said because of the “extraordinary attack” the government intended to introduce “a new regime” under the criminal code so that it can list the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“This sends the strongest possible signal that this conduct has reached a new and totally unacceptable low. The existing regime designed decades ago was not intended to deal with the threats we are now facing.”
– ABC