MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused Iran of organizing two antisemitic attacks in Australia and said the country was cutting off diplomatic relations with Tehran in response on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Australian Security Intelligence Organization, or ASIO, concluded that Iran had directed arson attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company in Sydney, in October 2024 and on Melbourne\u2019s Adass Israel Synagogue<\/a> two months later, Albanese said.<\/p>\n Shortly before the announcement, the Australian government told Iran\u2019s Ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi that he will be expelled. It also withdrew Australian diplomats posted in Iran to a third country, Albanese said.<\/p>\n An alert to Australians in Iran noted the embassy\u2019s closure and urged them to \u201cstrongly consider leaving as soon as possible, if it is safe to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cForeigners in Iran, including Australians and dual Australian-Iranian nationals, are at a high risk of arbitrary detention or arrest,\u201d the warning read.<\/p>\n Australia updated its warning to travelers to its highest level: \u201cDo not travel\u201d to Iran. <\/p>\n Iran\u2019s government denied the allegations, while its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, called Albanese a \u201cweak politician.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIran is paying the price for the Australian people\u2019s support for Palestine,\u201d Araghchi wrote on the social platform X. \u201cCanberra should know better than to attempt to appease a regime led by war criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> also branded Albanese a \u201cweak politician who had betrayed Israel\u201d<\/a> after an Aug. 11 announcement by Albanese that his government\u2019s recognition of a Palestinian state<\/a> will be formalized at the United Nations General Assembly in September. <\/p>\n \u2018Dangerous acts of aggression\u2019<\/p>\n Police have already arrested at least one suspect in the Sydney cafe fire investigation and two suspects<\/a> directly accused of torching the Melbourne synagogue.<\/p>\n Sayed Mohammed Moosawi, a 32-year-old Sydney-based former chapter president of the Nomads biker gang, has been charged with directing the fire bombings of the Sydney caf\u00e9 as well as the nearby Curly Lewis Brewery. The brewery was apparently confused for the caf\u00e9 and mistakenly targeted three days earlier for an antisemitic attack. <\/p>\n Giovanni Laulu, a 21-year-old man from Melbourne, was charged last month with being one of three masked arsonists who caused extensive damage to the synagogue in December.<\/p>\n A second alleged arsonist, a 20-year-old man also from Melbourne, is expected to appear in court Wednesday, a police statement said. He has not been publicly named.<\/p>\n \u201cASIO has now gathered enough credible intelligence to reach a deeply disturbing conclusion,\u201d Albanese told reporters. \u201cThe Iranian government directed at least two of these attacks. Iran has sought to disguise its involvement but ASIO assesses it was behind the attacks.<\/p>\n \u201cThese were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community. It is totally unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said that Canberra would keep some diplomatic lines open to Tehran to advance Australia\u2019s interests. She added that it was the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II.<\/p>\n Terrorist organization <\/p>\n Albanese said that Australia will legislate to list Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard<\/a> as a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s law makes providing support to a listed terrorist organization a crime.<\/p>\n The government has previously rejected calls to list the Revolutionary Guard under existing terrorism laws because it is a government entity.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard<\/a> has been accused of carrying out attacks abroad in the past, though it broadly denies any involvement. The Guard\u2019s Quds, or Jerusalem, Force is its expeditionary arm and is accused by Western nations of using local militants and criminals in the past to target dissidents and Israelis abroad.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Executive Council of Australian Jewry welcomed the terrorist designation for the Revolutionary Guard, adding in a statement that the group was \u201coutraged\u201d that a foreign actor was behind the crimes.<\/p>\n \u201cForemost, these were attacks that deliberately targeted Jewish Australians, destroyed a sacred house of worship, caused millions of dollars of damage, and terrified our community,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, Israel has arrested several people on charges they had been paid or encouraged by Iran to carry out vandalism and monitor potential targets there.<\/p>\n \u2018A matter of community cohesion\u2019<\/p>\n Iran denied Australia\u2019s allegations through its Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei, who tried to link it to the challenges Australia faced with Israel after announcing it would recognize a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like that the action, which is against Iran, diplomacy and the relations between the two nations, is a compensation for the criticism that the Australians had against the Zionist regime,\u201d Baghaei claimed.<\/p>\n Albanese previously resisted calls to expel Iran\u2019s envoy to Canberra before, analysts said, including in 2024 when Sadeghi was summoned for meetings with foreign ministry officials over his social media posts.<\/p>\n Michael Shoebridge, a former Australian defense and security official and director of the think tank Strategic Analysis Australia, said he didn\u2019t believe the move was prompted by Israel\u2019s complaints.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s a matter of Australia-Israel relations, but a matter of community cohesion here in Australia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Suspected foreign actors<\/p>\n There has been a steep rise in antisemitic incidents<\/a> in Sydney and Melbourne since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023.<\/p>\n