Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Tuesday that Australia is severing diplomatic ties with Iran over its alleged role in orchestrating two arson attacks on Jewish targets in Sydney and Melbourne last year.
An investigation by the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) found that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) recruited organized crime figures in Australia to carry out the attacks, which included an assault on Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company in Sydney, in October 2024, and a fire at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne two months later.
Australia is home to about 120,000 Jews, including one of the largest per capita Holocaust survivor communities outside Israel. Antisemitic incidents have risen since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Albanese said ASIO’s assessment showed that Iran attempted to conceal its involvement in the attacks but was ultimately responsible. “This was a campaign directed from abroad to intimidate a community and destabilize our society. That cannot and will not be tolerated,” he said.
In response, Albanese announced the expulsion of Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi, the closure of Australia’s embassy in Tehran, and the recall of its diplomats. The move marks Australia’s first ambassadorial expulsion since World War II.
The government also raised its travel advisory for Iran to “Do Not Travel,” citing an elevated risk of arbitrary detention.
Albanese added that the government will pursue legislation to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, a step already taken by the United States and Canada.
Iran denied Australia’s allegations.
“Iran is home to among the world’s oldest Jewish communities including dozens of synagogues. Accusing Iran of attacking such sites in Australia while we do our utmost to protect them in our own country makes zero sense,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X on Tuesday.
I am not in the habit of joining causes with wanted War Criminals, but Netanyahu is right about one thing: Australia’s PM is indeed a “weak politician”.
Iran is home to among the world’s oldest Jewish communities including dozens of synagogues. Accusing Iran of attacking such… pic.twitter.com/9usu56OW1E
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) August 26, 2025
“Iran is paying the price for the Australian people’s support for Palestine. Canberra should know better than to attempt to appease a regime led by war criminals. Doing so will only embolden Netanyahu and his ilk,” he added.
