Iran accused of directing at least 2 anti-Semitic attacks in Australia

Iran accused of directing at least 2 anti-Semitic attacks in Australia
by Darryl Coote
Washington DC (UPI) Aug 26, 2025

The Iranian government directed at least two anti-Semitic attacks against Australia's Jewish community, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday, prompting Canberra to expel the Iranian ambassador to the Pacific nation, recall its own envoys and sever all diplomatic ties with the Tehran regime.

"These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil," Albanese said during a press conference. "They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community. It is totally unacceptable and the Australian government is taking strong and decisive action in response."

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, there have been several high-profile anti-Semitic incidents in Australia. On Tuesday, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization announced that at least two of them but likely more were directed by Iran, specifically December's Adass Israel Synagogue arson attack in Melbourne and October's arson attack on Lewis' Continental Kitchen in Sydney.

Albanese described the intelligence accusing Iran as "credible." Iran tried to obfuscate its involvement, but ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said in a statement it was able to uncover and unpick "links between the alleged crimes and commanders in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps."

The IRGC is an elite force of Iran's military, with its Quds Force being Tehran's covert international force that arms proxies and conducts terrorist attacks.

A complex web of proxies were employed to disguise the IRGC's involvement, according to the ASIO, which said it was continuing to investigate Iran's potential involvement in "a number of other attacks."

Burgess was unable to go into specifics about Iran's involvement, but said offshore organized crime was involved.

He said there was "a layer cake of cut-outs between the IRGC and the person or alleged perpetrators of conducting crimes."

"In between them, they tap into a number of people, agents of the IRGC and people they know in the criminal world," he said.

"It goes without saying that Iran's actions are utterly unacceptable. They put lives at risk. They terrified the community. They tore at our social fabric," Burgess added. "Iran and its proxies literally and figuratively lit the matches and fanned the flames."

Albanese said the Australian people want two things: for the killing in the Middle East to stop and they don't want conflict in the Middle East brought to Australia.

"Iran has sought to do just that," he said.

"They have sought to harm and terrorize Jewish Australians and sow hatred and division in our country."

Ahmad Sadeghi, Iranian ambassador to Australia, and three additional Iranian diplomats will be expelled, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said, stating they have seven days to leave the country.

It is the first time since World War II that Australia has expelled an ambassador, she said.

"We have made this decision because Iran's actions are completely unacceptable," she said.

The Australian embassy in Tehran has also suspended operations and Australian diplomats in Iran have already been moved to a third country, she said.

Australia will also legislate that the IRGC is a terrorist organization, a label that several other countries, including the United States, have applied to the militant group.

The Lewis' Continental Kitchen was subjected to an arson attack on Oct. 20, and the Adass Israel Synagogue was attacked on Dec. 6, resulting in no injuries but extensive damage.

"It's true that no one was injured in these attacks; it's not true that no one was harmed," Tony Burke, minister for home and multicultural affairs, said during the press conference.