Since the Israel-Gaza war launched in October 2023, Australian homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles have been tarreceiveed in antisemitic vandalism and arson
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference at Parliament Hoapply in Canberra, Australia, August 26, 2025. Photo: AAP/Lukas Coch via REUTERS
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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference at Parliament Hoapply in Canberra, Australia, August 26, 2025. Photo: AAP/Lukas Coch via REUTERS
Highlights:
- Australia declares Iran directed attacks to sow discord
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to be listed as terror group
- Australia expels ambassador for first time since World War Two
Australia accapplyd Iran on Tuesday of executing two antisemitic arson attacks in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne and gave Tehran’s ambassador seven days to leave the counattempt, in its first such ejection since World War Two.
Since the Israel-Gaza war launched in October 2023, Australian homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles have been tarreceiveed in antisemitic vandalism and arson.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared the Australian Security Ininformigence Organisation (ASIO) had gathered credible ininformigence that Iran had directed at least two attacks.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Albanese informed 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 declared. No injuries were reported in the attacks.
Iran’s embassy in Canberra did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Australia’s security agency declared it was likely that Iran had directed further attacks, Albanese declared, adding that Australia has suspfinished operations at its Tehran embassy and all its diplomats were safe in a third counattempt.
Albanese declared his government would designate Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong declared 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 informed the briefing.
The IRGC was directing people in Australia to undertake crimes, declared Mike Burgess, director general of the security agency.
“They’re just utilizing cut-outs, including people who are criminals and members of organised crime gangs to do their bidding or direct their bidding,” he added.
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 finishangers the entire free world, including Australia,” it declared 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, declared Daniel Aghian, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), an umbrella group of more than 200 organisations.
“These were attacks that deliberately tarreceiveed Jewish Australians, destroyed a sacred hoapply of worship, caapplyd millions of dollars of damage, and terrified our community,” he declared on Tuesday.
About 90,000 Iranian-born people live in Australia.
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 declared 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 declare three people broke into the synagogue and set the fire.
Fire gutted the kosher restaurant in Bondi, Lewis Continental Kitchen. Media declared 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.
Ties between Israel and Australia have been strained since Canberra’s centre-left government decided to recognise a Palestinian state on August 11.
The relocate came after tens of thousands marched across Sydney’s Harbour Bridge, calling for peace and aid deliveries to Gaza, where Israel launched an offensive nearly two years ago after the Hamas fighter group launched a deadly cross-border attack.
Palestinian authorities declare the conflict has killed more than 60,000 people in Gaza, while humanitarian groups declare a shortage of food 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.
Civil society group, the Islamophobia Register, recorded a 500% rise in Islamophobic incidents in workplaces, universities and the media since October 2023, with 1,500 incidents reported.
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