CANBERRA, Aug 26: Australia is set to expel Iranian Ambassador to Canberra Ahmad Sadeghi and close its embassy in Iran over the country’s alleged links to anti-Semitic attacks in Australia, the Australian prime minister’s office said on Tuesday.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organization, together with the country’s federal police, has investigated a series of anti-Semitic attacks against the Australian Jewish community, and has found that at least two of them were supported by the Iranian government, the statement said.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil. This is an attack on our society, aimed at creating fear, stoking internal divisions and eroding social cohesion. These attacks on our society are totally unacceptable and the Australian Government is taking strong and decisive action in response. We have informed the Iranian ambassador to Australia he and three additional Iranian diplomats will be expelled. We have suspended operations at our embassy in Tehran and all our diplomats are now safe in a third country,” the office said in a statement.
The Australian government will also pass legislation to list the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, the statement said.
In recent months, Australian authorities have recorded an increase in attacks on members of the Jewish community. One of the most high-profile cases in a series of anti-Semitic attacks was the arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in southeast Melbourne on December 6, 2024. No one was injured, but the building suffered significant damage. A few days later, the police classified the arson as a terrorist act. (UNI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
