Albanese government called to stand up to ‘hostile meddling’ from Iranian ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has rejected Ahmad Sadeghi’s characterisation of Israel’s retaliatory strike on Iran as a ‘terrorist attack’, but one major Muslim group agrees.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s office has rejected a claim from Iranian ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi, that Israel’s retaliatory strike on Iran was a terrorist attack, as Labor faces warnings it must expel the diplomat or risk being viewed as a government that is weak on national security.
The latest comments to land the ambassador in hot water came in response to three waves of Israeli strikes on Saturday, confirmed by Israel’s military, that were launched against missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran, in a retaliation to Iran’s October 1 missile attack.
Mr Sadeghi remembered four army personnel killed by the Israeli strikes and in a post on social media platform X, said: “The lawless Zionist enemy launched a terrorist attack on the sacred territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in a clear violation of national sovereignty and international law”.
Iranian and Israeli organisations were united in blasting Mr Sadeghi over his remarks, while one of the nation’s most influential Muslim organisation’s backed branding Israel’s strike as an act of terrorism.
The Lebanese Muslim Association’s secretary, Gamal Kheir, defended Mr Sadeghi and said Israel had breached the sovereignty of Iran when it “invaded Lebanon and it took it upon itself to attack Iran” when it conducted an air strike on the Iranian embassy complex in Syria in April.
“In a generic sense, we as the LMA want to uphold international law. And international law should not be selective. When a country’s sovereignty is breached, then we should be condemning the breacher of that sovereignty,” Mr Kheir told The Australian
“Of course we agree with the ambassador. The point is, we have an obligation as a democratic society to call out any country that breaches the peace of Israel and Iran. They’re both equally guilty.”
Mr Kheir called on the federal government and Opposition to offer condemnation on both ends, and said “everyone seems to be very sensitive to condemning Israel”.
“I would argue Israel was the first one to breach the international law and sovereignty because it invaded Lebanon and it took it upon itself to attack Iran when it took out the ministers within Iran itself,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Senator Wong said Australia’s diplomatic relationship with Iran had “never been an endorsement of the regime”.
“We reject the ambassador’s characterisation”, she said in a statement to The Australian.
“Australia maintains a diplomatic relationship with Iran because it is in our national interest to do so, not because we agree.”
She said the relationship provided a channel “through which we are pressing the urgent need for de-escalation, including in Canberra and Tehran”.
The Australian Iranian Community Alliance, however, had a polar opposite reaction, saying the ambassador should be “declared persona non grata”.
“The Islamic republic regime is dragging Iran into a conflict that only serves its delusional ambitions, not the interests of the Iranian people,” AICA vice-president Suren Edgar said. “Labelling Israel’s strikes as ‘terrorist attacks’ is pure hypocrisy from a regime whose IRGC has rained missiles down on Israel and armed, financed and trained Hamas and Hezbollah to do the same.
“The Islamic republic’s rhetoric is a blatant attempt to distract from its own role as the main driver of terror and instability across the region.”
Australian Jewish Association’s CEO Robert Gregory said the ambassador sought to damage social cohesion. “It is time to expel Ahmad Sadeghi,” he said.
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