Hundreds of Australians to depart Beirut as officials reprimand top Iranian in Canberra
By Paul Sakkal
Hundreds of Australians are due to leave under-siege Lebanon overnight to flee a conflict that has resulted in Australian officials reprimanding the Iranian ambassador for praising Hezbollah.
Iran’s top diplomat in Canberra, Ahmad Sadeghi, labelled Hezbollah’s assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah a “blessed martyr” in a social media post last Sunday.
He also praised the Lebanese Shia group listed as a terror outfit in Australia, the US and UK and lashed out at Israel and what he labelled “the vile entity of the Zionist regime”, causing controversy and leading to opposition demands to expel him.
Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong have for months urged Australians to leave Lebanon.Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald
Australian officials met with the diplomat on Friday with the foreign affairs department’s acting secretary “reminded [Sadeghi] of his obligation to respect Australian law and to stay out of domestic affairs,” the government said in a statement. It is the second time Australia has cautioned the Iranian diplomat for using inflammatory language.
The opposition has demanded Labor expel Sadeghi and argued the flare-up was a test of Labor’s strength of resolve against Iran and its “axis of resistance”, including Hezbollah and Hamas, dedicated to Israel’s destruction.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said it remains useful to have a communication channel with Iran even though she and other ministers consistently call out the Islamic republic’s malign influence in the Middle-East.
Albanese said on Friday: “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.”
The development came as the government continued to organise the evacuation of Australians from Lebanon. Overnight on Thursday, 41 Australians were on flights out of Lebanon to Cyprus. Two charter flights for up to 500 Australians will depart Beirut Airport for Cyprus on Saturday night, Australian time.
Australian government officials assisting Australians to depart Lebanon.
The Albanese government has urged Australians in Lebanon not to delay in leaving the country as Israel intensifies its airstrikes and ground assault.
Transport Minister Catherine King said: “Our message very clearly to people in Lebanon at the moment is do not wait to get the perfect flight home.”
“If you are offered a flight, then you need to go.”
About 5000 Australians have registered to leave Lebanon, with 3088 registered as wanting to depart and 1813 registered for information only. More than 700 have departed.
Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian demonstrators are preparing for large major city rallies on Sunday, the day before the anniversary of October 7 when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will attend commemorations with the Jewish community.
Both leaders have demanded activists avoid provocative demonstrations around October 7. Greens MPs, independent senator Lidia Thorpe, Palestinian-Australian activist Nasser Mashni and Islamic community leaders are scheduled to speak at rallies on Sunday. Activists have held up the right to protest amid attempts to use the law to thwart marches.
Melbourne protest leaders were on Saturday calling for volunteer safety marshalls on social media, posting they expected “heavy aggression and police brutality”, underlining the level of tension spawned in part by the display of Hezbollah flags at rallies last weekend.