Iran directed at least two attacks against Australia’s Jewish community, the domestic spy agency has determined, prompting the Albanese government to expel Tehran’s ambassador to Canberra from Australia.
The prime minister announced on Tuesday that the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (Asio) had “credible intelligence” to determine the Iranian government was behind the attacks against the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne and Lewis’s Continental Kitchen in Bondi in Sydney.
The Asio director-general, Mike Burgess, said the attacks had been ordered by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), working through a “layer cake of cut-outs” – paid intermediaries acting in Australia.
The IRGC will be listed as a terrorist organisation, with new laws to be considered by federal parliament.
Iran’s ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi, has been designated “persona non grata” by the Australian government and Australia’s embassy in Tehran will suspend operations. Iranian diplomats posted to Australia were not involved, Burgess said.
The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, reportedly said the allegations were “completely baseless” and warned that “any inappropriate diplomatic action will be answered in kind”.
In comments reported in Iranian news outlet Iran International, Baghaei claimed the sanctions were driven by domestic political pressure in Australia.
“Millions have protested in Australia against the genocide in Gaza,” he said. “This move against Iran, which is a move against diplomacy, appears to be compensation for the limited criticism Australia has directed at [Israel].”
Six diplomatic staff posted to Iran were moved to a third country before the announcement was made.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Albanese said.
“They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community. It is totally unacceptable.”
Albanese said told the lower house in question time on Tuesday that it was the “most serious response” any Australian government had given, adding “we don’t expel an ambassador lightly”.
Burgess said his agency was investigating other incidents for possible Iranian government involvement but did not believe Iran was involved in every act of antisemitism in Australia.
“It goes without saying that Iran’s actions are unacceptable. They put lives at risk, they terrified the community and they tore at our social fabric. Iran and its proxies lit the matches and fanned the flames,” he said.
“This was directed by the IRGC through a series of overseas cut-outs, facilitators, to coordinators that found their way to tasking Australians.”
Burgess said the alleged perpetrators were paid to make the attacks, and that it was aimed at “at messing with social cohesion”.
Speaking on ABC’s 7.30 program, Albanese said Asio had “clear evidence” linking individuals in the IRGC to what he described as acts of “foreign violence” against Australia.
When pressed on whether the government would seek to sanction those individuals, Albanese said: “We’ll take whatever action is appropriate.
“We speak about foreign interference. This is another level. This is foreign action and foreign violence being committed against Australians, funded and using criminal elements here,” he said.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said Iran’s actions warranted the first removal of a foreign ambassador to Canberra since the postwar period.
“That is why we have declared Iran’s ambassador to Australia persona non grata, as well as three other Iranian officials, and they will have seven days to leave the country,” Wong said.
Israel’s embassy welcomes Canberra decision
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said the Coalition was, in unison with the government, “disgusted to learn of the serious and chilling foreign interference which has been perpetrated by the Islamic Republic of Iran on Australian soil”.
“These acts of egregious foreign interference are brazen attempts to cleave apart our social cohesion,” she said.
Changes to the federal criminal code will be required to list the IRGC as a terror group, because the current legal regime for official designation only considers non-state groups.
Guardian Australia has contacted the Iranian embassy in Canberra.
Israel’s embassy in Canberra welcomed the decision, saying it was warranted.
“This is a step we have long advocated for … A strong and important move,” a spokesperson said.
In January, the Australian Federal Police commissioner, Reece Kershaw, told political leaders police were investigating whether criminals were being paid by foreign agitators based in the Middle East to whip up antisemitic hatred in Australia.
The Adass Israel synagogue was set ablaze in December, an incident the prime minister immediately labelled as an act of antisemitism.
The synagogue incident was among the first in a months-long wave of attacks against Australia’s Jewish community. In January, federal police said they were probing whether the attacks could be linked by a group of paid actors, or “criminals for hire”, rather than ideologically motivated offenders.
Two men have been arrested in relation to the synagogue fire bombing. In July, the AFP deputy commissioner for national security, Krissy Barrett, said the investigation was not contained to Australia, and that the AFP was “working closely” with Five Eyes and international partners.
The Iranian regime has previously been accused of engaging criminal gangs to carry out attacks overseas.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Albanese government’s decision to support a UN resolution calling for an end to Israel’s occupation of Gaza was to blame for the December synagogue attack.
“It is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor government in Australia,” he wrote on X.
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