MELBOURNE, Australia (news agencies) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused Iran of organizing two antisemitic attacks in Australia and said the country was cutting off diplomatic relations with Tehran in response on Tuesday.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organization, or ASIO, concluded that Iran had directed arson attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company in Sydney, in October 2024 and on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue two months later, Albanese said.
Shortly before the announcement, the Australian government told Iran’s Ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi that he will be expelled. It also withdrew Australian diplomats posted in Iran to a third country, Albanese said.
An alert to Australians in Iran noted the embassy’s closure and urged them to “strongly consider leaving as soon as possible, if it is safe to do so.”
“Foreigners in Iran, including Australians and dual Australian-Iranian nationals, are at a high risk of arbitrary detention or arrest,” the warning read.
Australia updated its warning to travelers to its highest level: “Do not travel” to Iran.
Iran’s government denied the allegations, while its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, called Albanese a “weak politician.”
“Iran is paying the price for the Australian people’s support for Palestine,” Araghchi wrote on the social platform X. “Canberra should know better than to attempt to appease a regime led by war criminals.”
Last week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also branded Albanese a “weak politician who had betrayed Israel” after an Aug. 11 announcement by Albanese that his government’s recognition of a Palestinian state will be formalized at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Police have already arrested at least one suspect in the Sydney cafe fire investigation and two suspects directly accused of torching the Melbourne synagogue.
Sayed Mohammed Moosawi, a 32-year-old Sydney-based former chapter president of the Nomads biker gang, has been charged with directing the fire bombings of the Sydney café as well as the nearby Curly Lewis Brewery. The brewery was apparently confused for the café and mistakenly targeted three days earlier for an antisemitic attack.
Giovanni Laulu, a 21-year-old man from Melbourne, was charged last month with being one of three masked arsonists who caused extensive damage to the synagogue in December.
A second alleged arsonist, a 20-year-old man also from Melbourne, is expected to appear in court Wednesday, a police statement said. He has not been publicly named.
“ASIO has now gathered enough credible intelligence to reach a deeply disturbing conclusion,” Albanese told reporters. “The Iranian government directed at least two of these attacks. Iran has sought to disguise its involvement but ASIO assesses it was behind the attacks.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” he said. “They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community. It is totally unacceptable.”
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