Australia expels Iran’s ambassador, shuts embassy in Tehran

Australia accused Iran of orchestrating two antisemitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne and ordered the Iranian ambassador to leave within seven days, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday.

Albanese told reporters that intelligence services gathered credible evidence of Tehran’s involvement in last year’s attacks on a kosher restaurant and a synagogue. “These were unprecedented and dangerous acts of aggression by a foreign state on Australian soil,” he said.

Australia has suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran and relocated diplomats to a third country. The government also plans to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three Iranian officials must leave within a week.