Iran’s former ambassador to Australia – now persona non grata – has denied allegations his government was behind two antisemitic arson attacks in Australia, describing the accusations as “baseless” as he left the country.
Ahmad Sadeghi faced media questioning at Sydney airport before boarding a flight out of Australia.
On Tuesday, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was ultimately behind two antisemitic arson attacks last year: one on the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Bondi and another on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne. There were no injuries in either attack.
The federal government has expelled Sadeghi – the first such expulsion since the second world war – and will move to prescribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. There was no accusation current Iranian diplomats or embassy staff were involved.
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Sadeghi described Australia’s accusations as “baseless allegations” and reiterated that Iran has a large Jewish community, seeking to counter criticism that Iran has long sponsored antisemitic attacks overseas via proxy forces.
Sadeghi said that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) assessment that Iranian government officials were ultimately responsible for the arson attacks was the result of a “misunderstanding between Australia and Iran”.
He also proffered that the allegation had likely emerged from a “conspiracy against our friendly relations with Australia”.
Sadeghi insisted that, despite the tumult of his departure, he had enjoyed his posting in Canberra.
“I love Australian people,” he said.
Asio said it had “credible intelligence” that the IRGC was ultimately behind the arson attacks – planning and funding the attacks through a series of intermediaries, including organised crime figures, but said it was “likely” Iran was behind more antisemitic attacks on Australian soil.
Following the expulsion of the ambassador, community leaders have said Australians of Iranian heritage faced verbal abuse and intimidation.
The local diaspora had been asking for the ambassador’s expulsion since 2022, following the regime’s crackdown on the women’s rights movement, the Australian Iranian Society of Victoria vice president, Kambiz Razmara, said.
He said there had been reports Australia’s Iranian community was being conflated with the actions of Iranian authorities.
“It is important for people to recognise that we, the Iranian diaspora, are opposed to what happens in Iran,” Razmara said.
“The Iranian diaspora, by and large, are here because they’re seeking freedom and social cohesion and freedom of expression and democracy, so anything that tarnishes that we are resolutely against.”
The government had taken the right step after Iran’s “insidious, underhanded” work in destabilising Australian society, said David Andrews from the National Security College at the Australian National University.
On Australia’s relationship with Iran, Andrews said Canberra had in the past been able to conduct diplomacy on behalf of its friends and allies who did not have a mission in Tehran.
“[The expulsion] potentially puts that role at some risk,” he said.
Australia should expect some retaliation.
“The risk of people being used as political pawns, or people who have either dual citizenship or Australians passing through Iran, could be used as a point of leverage or sort of in response to this action,” Andrews said.
“There’s no one who will be rushing to try and repair those ties too actively.”
It’s estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 Australians, or dual Australian-Iranian citizens, live in Iran.
The Australian government has a “do not travel” warning for Iran that advises Australian citizens they could be subject to arbitrary detention.
