Australia accuses Iran of directing antisemitic attacks on cafe and synagogue

BBC ^ | 08/26/2025 | Yang Tian and Flora Drury

[DFG]

Australia has given Iran's ambassador seven days to leave the country after alleging the country's government directed antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.

Intelligence services linked Iran to an arson attack on a cafe in Sydney in October last year, and another on a synagogue in Melbourne in December, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a press conference on Tuesday.

Albanese added the two incidents were "attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community".

Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other officials have been ordered to leave Australia, which has withdrawn its own diplomats from Tehran. Iran has "absolutely rejected" the allegations.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman added the decision to expel their envoy was "driven by Australia's domestic policies".

However, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) chief Mike Burgess said his teams had uncovered links "between the alleged crimes and the commanders in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC", following a "painstaking", months-long investigation.

"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," Mr Burgess told reporters.

He added that IRGC had "used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement" in the attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney on 20 October, and Melbourne's Adass Israel Synagogue on 6 December.

Australia's intelligence services had also found evidence Iran was likely to be behind other antisemitic incidents in Australia, which has seen attacks on Jewish schools, homes, vehicles and synagogues since the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, Iran's ally, and the ensuing war in Gaza.

In the same period of time, civil society group the Islamophobic Register has also recorded a rise in Islamophobic incidents.