Albanese condemns Iranian ambassador but rejects expulsion call

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rejected calls to expel Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi as Australians trickle out of Lebanon despite the government booking planeloads of seats to get them to safety.

In a social media post on Sunday, Sadeghi praised slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a “blessed martyr”, prompting outrage from the government and a Coalition demand for him to be removed.

On Friday, Albanese defended the government’s decision to allow Sadeghi to stay in Australia as it keeps communication channels open with Iran, which earlier this week launched a barrage of missiles at Israel in a clear escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

“We condemn the Ambassador’s comments,” Albanese said. “We maintained a relationship with Iran since 1968 which is continuous. Not because we agree with the regime but because it’s in Australia’s national interest,” he said.

“It’s never been an endorsement of the regime, but a channel to protect Australia’s interests and to communicate our views.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton lashed federal Labor for allowing Sadeghi to stay, arguing Albanese needed to expel the ambassador – a call the opposition has made twice before.

Credit: Matt Golding

“Do I think the Iranian ambassador should be expelled from our country? Should he be persona non grata? Absolutely. It’s not his first time and he’s been warned by the government before, the prime minister has to start showing some strength of leadership,” Dutton said on Friday.

Albanese criticised the Liberal leader’s record while he was in government. “My government has taken the strongest actions of any government on Iran... We have put in place hundreds of sanctions against Iranians and against Iranian entities,” Albanese said.

“And that stands in stark contrast to the fact that nothing happened over the nine years in which Peter Dutton was a minister in the former government, where there were no sanctions, where there was silence about Iran.”

Meanwhile, the government has announced that two charter flights for up to 500 Australians will depart Beirut Airport for Cyprus on Saturday, as Israel intensifies its airstrikes and ground assault. Tickets are free of charge for eligible Australians, and a government statement said further flights were also being planned for coming days if the airport remains open. Qantas has confirmed it will operate two flights from Cyprus to Sydney.

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in the neighbourhood of Dahiyeh, Beirut, which is a Hezbollah stronghold. Credit: AP

Overnight on Thursday, 41 Australians were on flights out of Lebanon to Cyprus, despite reports of airstrikes close to its perimeter.

There are an estimated 15,000 Australians in Lebanon, but only 2338 have registered an interest in leaving with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts said people should leave Lebanon urgently, even if they had close family, business interests and homes in the country.

“Plenty of vacant seats though, available for Australians who want them,” Watts said on ABC News Breakfast. “We have registered at the moment, 2338 Australians who want to leave and we’ll be contacting them and working with them to facilitate their departure.

“This is a heart-wrenching decision to leave, but our advice is, don’t think twice about it, now is the time to leave.”

Businessman Faddy Zouky, an honorary consul of Lebanon in Australia, agreed that many in the community had been living in Lebanon for a long time and leaving their homes and livelihoods would be extremely difficult.

“It can also be very expensive as airlines have started to charge more, and others have tickets but the flights are cancelled,” Zouky said. “Some are getting to Cyprus by boat, and some are considering getting on a container ship to Turkey.”

Members of Zouky’s family are staying in Lebanon for now, but have elected to move to a house in Beirut after bombing and shelling ignited pine, oak and olive groves near the family home in the country’s south.

Some Australians with family and friends caught up in the fighting are sick with worry.

“I’ve got six brothers and two sisters and my mum and dad there,” said Sydney woman Fatima Hassoun. One of her brothers was injured in an Israeli attack and is in hospital.

“I was on the phone all night, calling around to see if everyone was alright. I can hear the bombing and the kids screaming,” Hassoun said.

“I feel guilty if I sleep, I feel guilty if I do anything. I’m so scared for them, constantly. It’s hard to go to work.”

Political science professor at the University of Melbourne Allan Patience said the government’s major problem was the reluctance of people to leave Lebanon.

“If a real war between Iran and Israel breaks out, Lebanon will be an extremely dangerous place to live and people might change their minds about staying,” he said.

During a previous conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, DFAT had to evacuate 500 stranded Australians via ship after the airport closed, which Patience said was again at risk.

“There was chaos and people tried to get out to Cyprus by ship but even that would become dangerous if the real war were to break out in the Middle East, so there are very few options for these people if they don’t get out now,” he said.

The government has pleaded for citizens in Lebanon to leave ever since Hamas’s attacks in Israel on October 7 last year.

Israel began a series of missile and pager attacks in Lebanon to cripple Hezbollah two weeks ago, which prompted Iran to retaliate with a barrage of missiles this week against Israel.

Beirut Airport remains open but on Thursday Foreign Minister Penny Wong warned it could close at any point. That would cripple the government’s plans to evacuate Australians. Australian Air Force planes have been stationed in the region as a backup to commercial flights, but damage to the airport could render that plan ineffective too.

At least one Israeli strike hit outside the perimeter of Beirut’s international airport early on Friday, according to a source in Lebanon’s Ministry of Transport and Public Works.

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