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Australia Expels Iranian Ambassador After ASIO Links IRGC to Antisemitic Arson Attacks

Officials cite ASIO findings that the IRGC used proxies to direct two 2024 arson attacks targeting Jewish sites.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on August 26, 2025.
Image
A general view of the Iranian Embassy in Canberra, Australia, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023.

Overview

  • Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said ASIO determined Iran directed the Sydney and Melbourne attacks, prompting the expulsion of Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other officials within seven days, the first such move since World War II.
  • Canberra suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, moved Australian diplomats to a third country, and urged Australians in Iran to leave, with travel advice warning consular help is now extremely limited.
  • The government will introduce legislation to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, with Home Affairs calling the activity an unacceptable escalation on Australian soil.
  • ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said the IRGC used overseas cut-outs and coordinators to task Australians, while noting no Iranian diplomats in Australia were involved and that the agency is probing additional incidents.
  • The linked attacks were an October 20, 2024 arson at Lewis' Continental Kitchen in Sydney and a December 6 arson at Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue, with Victorian counter-terrorism investigators charging two men in the synagogue case.