Australia expels Iran ambassador after IRGC antisemitic arson

Australia expelled Iran's ambassador and three senior diplomats this week after its domestic intelligence agency concluded Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps directed at least two antisemitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday. The government also suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, withdrew Australian diplomatic staff to a third country and warned Australians in Iran to leave immediately amid a heightened risk of arbitrary detention.

Albanese said the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation reached a "deeply disturbing conclusion" that the IRGC had used a network of offshore criminal operatives and local proxies to carry out attacks including a fire at the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher cafe in Bondi on October 20, 2024, and an arson attack at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne, on December 6, 2024. No one was injured, but the synagogue suffered millions of dollars in damage, officials said. ASIO Director General Mike Burgess described the operations as foreign directed and said the agency was still investigating other incidents that may be linked.