Australia blames Iran for antisemitic arson attacks, expels envoy

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia accused Iran of directing two antisemitic arson attacks in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne and gave Tehran's ambassador seven days to leave the country on Tuesday, its first such expulsion since World War Two.

Canberra is the latest Western government to accuse Iran of carrying out hostile covert activities on its soil. Last month, 14 countries including Britain, the U.S. and France condemned what they called a surge in assassination, kidnapping and harassment plots by Iranian intelligence services.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had gathered credible intelligence that Iran was behind at least two attacks. 

"These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil," Albanese told a press briefing. "They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community."

Iran had sought to "disguise its involvement" in last year's attacks on a kosher restaurant in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, Albanese said. No injuries were reported in the attacks.

Since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023, Australian homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles have been targeted in antisemitic vandalism and arson, while Islamophobic incidents have also surged.

Australia's decision was motivated by internal affairs and antisemitism had no place in Iranian culture, a spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry said.

Iran would take an appropriate decision in response to Australia's action, state media quoted the spokesperson as saying.

Australia's security agency said it was likely that Iran had directed further attacks, Albanese said, adding that Australia has suspended operations at its Tehran embassy and all its diplomats were safe in a third country.

The government would designate Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, Albanese added, joining the United States and Canada which already blacklist the IRGC.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three Iranian officials had seven days to leave, in Australia's first expulsion of an envoy since World War Two.

"Iran's actions are completely unacceptable," she told the briefing.

ORGANISED CRIME GANGS

The IRGC was directing people in Australia to undertake crimes, said Mike Burgess, director general of the security agency.

"They're just using cut-outs, including people who are criminals and members of organised crime gangs to do their bidding or direct their bidding," he added.

Security services in Britain and Sweden also warned last year that Tehran was using criminal proxies to carry out its violent attacks in those countries, with London saying it had disrupted 20 Iran-linked plots since 2022.

Iran has repeatedly denied such allegations, which it says are part of a campaign against it by hostile Western powers.

Israel's embassy in Australia welcomed the action against its major rival Iran. 

"Iran's regime is not only a threat to Jews or Israel, it endangers the entire free world, including Australia," it said in a statement on X.

The two countries fought a 12-day air war in June, after Israel launched attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Iran's actions were an attack on Australia's sovereignty, said Daniel Aghian, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), an umbrella group of more than 200 organisations.

"These were attacks that deliberately targeted Jewish Australians, destroyed a sacred house of worship, caused millions of dollars of damage, and terrified our community," he said on Tuesday.

ARSON ATTACKS

Two men have been charged over the December attack that set ablaze the synagogue, built in the 1960s by Holocaust survivors in the suburb of Ripponlea. 

Last week, police in the southeastern state of Victoria said they were examining electronic devices seized in a search of the home of one of the men, who is set to appear in court on Wednesday.

Police say three people broke into the synagogue and set the fire.

Fire gutted the kosher restaurant in Bondi, Lewis Continental Kitchen. Media said the man arrested in January over that attack had links to a well-known Australian motorcycle gang. He denied the charges in court and was freed on bail.

The Australian Iranian Community Organisation welcomed the expulsion and the move to declare the IRGC as a terrorist group.

"We are really happy to see them go," its president, Siamak Ghahreman, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in an interview.

About 90,000 Iranian-born people live in Australia.

Ties between Israel and Australia have been strained since Canberra's centre-left government decided to recognise a Palestinian state on August 11.

The move came after tens of thousands marched across Sydney's Harbour Bridge, calling for peace and aid deliveries to Gaza, where Israel began an offensive nearly two years ago after the Hamas militant group launched a deadly cross-border attack.

Palestinian authorities say the conflict has killed more than 62,000 people in Gaza, while humanitarian groups say Israel's blockade has caused a food shortage that is leading to widespread starvation.

On Sunday, thousands joined nationwide pro-Palestinian protests prompting the ECAJ to warn they were leading to an "unsafe environment".

Some Jewish organisations in Australia have supported the rallies, however.

Australian civil society group the Islamophobia Register said incidents of that nature rose 500% in workplaces, universities and the media since October 2023, with 1,500 reported.

(Reporting by Christine Chen, Renju Jose and Kirstry Needham; Additional reporting by Elwelly Elwely in Dubai; Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Clarence Fernandez and Alex Richardson)