Australia expels Iran ambassador, closes Tehran embassy after attacks

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the Iranian government directed at least two antisemitic attacks on Australian soil, targeting the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne and the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney. He announced the expulsion of Iran’s ambassador to Canberra, the closure of Australia’s embassy in Tehran, and plans to legislate the designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. Australian diplomats were moved to third countries, and the government signaled more actions as ASIO disclosed that the Iranian regime may have directed additional attacks beyond the two publicly identified.

The incidents at the heart of the announcement occurred last year. The Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne suffered significant damage in a firebombing attack in December 2024, while Bondi’s Lewis Continental Kitchen was targeted in October 2024, with property damage but no reported injuries. At a press conference in Parliament House, Albanese described these acts as “extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil” and said they were intended to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in...