Iranian Australians call for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to be listed as terrorist group as Senate motion fails
Top Iranian figures in Australia have called on the federal government to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation and to expel Tehran’s ambassador.
Top Iranian figures in Australia have called on the federal government to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran as a terrorist organisation and to expel Tehran’s ambassador in Canberra, as a Senate motion failed to gain traction on Tuesday.
It follows the Iranian regime firing a barrage of 180 ballistic missiles at Israel after the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was praised as a “remarkable leader” and a “blessed martyr” by Iran’s envoy in Australia Ahmad Sadeghi.
The Senate motion declares the need for the Albanese government to act in response to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s widespread sponsoring of terrorism, promotion of anti-Semitism, and oppression of its people by listing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation and removing the current Iranian ambassador.
Tasmanian Liberal senator Claire Chandler moved the motion for debate in the Senate on Tuesday, which was opposed by Labor and the Greens.
Ms Chandler told The Australian that calling in the ambassador for a polite chat with an official from the Department of Home Affairs and Trade was not a response that sends a message to the regime in Tehran.
“The dangerous message that the Albanese government has sent to the regime is that it won’t list the IRGC as terrorists no matter how many terrorist attacks they plan and carry out, and it won’t expel the Iranian ambassador no matter how blatantly he seeks to foster support for terrorism and promote anti-Semitism in our community,” she said.
“It is a response which the government knows full well the regime can live with, and can respond in-kind to by calling in our ambassador, as it did this week. That’s why DFAT has had more than 20 of these chats with Iranian officials over the past 2 years and it has had precisely zero impact on curtailing the regime and the ambassador’s behaviour.
Assistant Trade Minister Tim Ayres opposed what he called an “utterly reckless” motion, citing the government’s interest in seeking to manage a diplomatic relationship with Iran.
“For somebody who seeks future roles of leadership in foreign affairs and geostrategic affairs to continue with this line of argument while they have been briefed is utterly irresponsible,” Mr Ayres said.
“There is a set of reasons that go to Australia’s security and the security of our partners and it is utterly reckless for Senator Chandler to continue with this.”
Greens senator Jordan Steele-John abstained from the motion, claiming it was intended to cause “warmongering”. “We absolutely condemn the Iranian regime but we will not be party to the blatant warmongering that is implicit in this motion,” Mr Steele-John said.
Greens councillor for Ryde in NSW Tina Kordrostami, who is Iranian, told The Australian the Islamic regime’s dictatorship had caused four decades of poverty, removal of human rights, mass killings and daily prosecutions of innocent Iranians as young as school students.
“Ahmad (Sadeghi) is bound to this mission,” Ms Kordrostami said. “He supports four decades worth of inhumane prosecutions conducted by the Islamic Republic and to this date is ranked first globally in execution rates for crimes which merely question that which has been dictated to the people, such as the refusal to not speak up on the regime on social media.
“Ahmad does not represent the Iranian diaspora or the people within Iran. We stand against genocide, against the removal of human rights, we stand against injustice.”
Calls to expel the ambassador were backed by prominent Australian-Iranian rapper Nabil Esmaeili, who lives in Melbourne and has a following of more than 190,000 on social media.
“IRGC should be listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia as soon as yesterday,” he said, adding Ahmad Sadeghi is the ambassador of this terrorist group.”
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