Australia Expels Iranian Ambassador Over Antisemitic Attacks

In an unprecedented diplomatic move, Australia has expelled Iran’s ambassador and shuttered its embassy in Tehran after uncovering Iranian involvement in antisemitic attacks on Australian soil including an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue during prayer services.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Tuesday that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) orchestrated the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne and the Lewis’ Continental Kitchen, a kosher restaurant in Sydney’s Bondi neighborhood.

“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation,” Albanese said in a national address. “They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community. It is totally unacceptable.”

The attack on the Melbourne synagogue left one person injured and caused significant damage to the historic Jewish house of worship. The discovery that the IRGC directed the arson through a web of intermediaries and “cut-outs” has rocked Australia’s Jewish community and raised broader alarm over foreign interference and antisemitic violence.

Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), stated that “credible intelligence” clearly linked the IRGC to the operations. “Iran and its proxies lit the matches and fanned the flames,” he said, announcing that Australia will formally designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization a long-awaited step by many counterterrorism experts.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong declared Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi “persona non grata,” giving him and other embassy staff seven days to leave the country. “This is the first time in the post-war period that Australia has expelled an ambassador,” she noted. “And we have made this decision because Iran’s actions are completely unacceptable.”

Before the public announcement, Australian diplomats in Iran were quietly evacuated to safety in a third country, underlining the seriousness of the threat.

The coordinated targeting of Jewish institutions by a foreign state not only represents a direct attack on Australian sovereignty but has left the Jewish community deeply shaken. Synagogues and kosher businesses across the country are now on heightened alert, and security services are coordinating closely with Jewish leaders.

Iran’s increasingly aggressive global behavior from terror plots in Europe to now state-sponsored antisemitism in Australia reveals the dangerous lengths to which the regime is willing to go to export hate and fear. But Australia’s decisive response sends a clear message: attacks on Jews will not be tolerated, and those who target Israel’s allies will face consequences.

Support truth and stand against hate share this article or subscribe to our newsletter today.