Penny Wong snubs Iranian ambassador over anti-Israel tweets as DFAT flags concerns with Tehran

Penny Wong avoided a meeting with Iran’s ambassador over anti-Israel remarks as DFAT raised concerns with Tehran, while a suspected fake pro-Iranian letter has emerged.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has not personally confronted the Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi over his anti-Israel tweets, declaring she does not want to “reward his behaviour’’ with a face-to-face meeting.

During the fourth day of Senate estimates committee hearings, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials said they have raised their concerns about Mr Sadeghi’s anti-Semitic comments to the Iranian Foreign Ministry in Tehran.

Liberal senator Claire Chandler had asked senior DFAT officials about the number of times they spoke with Mr Sadeghi in the last 12 months in relation to his anti-Israel tweets.

Senator Wong said: “I wouldn’t propose to reward his behaviour with a face-to-face meeting with Australia’s foreign minister.”

Senator Penny Wong appears at the supplementary budget estimates. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The department’s deputy secretary of international security, legal and consular group, Craig Maclachlan, said he made it “very clear to him that his social media activity was unacceptable”.

“If his job was to be here to try and strengthen the relationship, this was not the sort of activity that was going to facilitate that in any way,” Mr Maclachlan said.

“I’ve also spoken directly to his boss in Tehran on two occasions in the last couple of months.”

Mr Maclachlan said DFAT’s first assistant secretary Marc Innes-Brown had spoken with the relevant counterpart in Tehran who oversees Mr Sadeghi’s role to indicate that the comments he made were unacceptable.

Mr Innes-Brown told the Senate estimates he spoke with the ambassador at least three times in the past year.

Iran's ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi. Picture: X / @ahmad87051

“In the last 12 months, I think I’ve spoken to him at least three times, maybe four, and on another occasion Mr Maclachlan called him in, most recently, which was on the 4th of October,” Mr Innes-Brown said.

In a separate matter mentioned at the Senate estimates, an alleged fake letter was sent on behalf of the Australia Iran Friendship Association (AIFA) to the Prime Minister’s Office and the DFAT, which commended the government for not listing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.

The letter appeared to have the signature of Hussein Al-Dirani, the Australian representative of extremist group Ahlul Bayt World Assembly (ABWA). It’s understood Mr Al-Dirani has connections with the Iranian ambassador.

Founded in 1990 in Iran, ABWA operates under the supervision of the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has a strong affiliation with the Iranian government.

The letter praised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s “balanced approach” towards the Gaza crisis and criticised what it called “foreign agendas” within Australia pushing for tougher stances against Iran.

“As individuals of Iranian descent living in Australia and non-Iranian members of the Association, we wish to highlight that under your effective leadership, recent developments in Palestine have seen the Australian government adopt a well-balanced approach towards the Gaza tragedy,” the letter read.

“We hold the belief that certain interest groups advocating for foreign agendas within Australia have not fully embraced these policies. These groups have launched criticisms against various governmental stances on the Palestinian Question.”

“The recent imprudent actions taken by the Canadian government towards Iran’s IRGC as a recognised sovereign armed force have emboldened a particular lobby. This lobby, rallying opposition within parliament and certain anti-Iran groups, is now pressuring the Australian Government to mirror such actions.”

Senator Claire Chandle at Parliament House in Canberra in support of Israel. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The document, which was obtained by The Australian, further warned that pressure from anti-Iran lobbyists might influence votes in key Labor strongholds with large Muslim populations in Sydney’s western suburbs in the lead-up to the 2025 election.

“In addition to the foreign alignment of this lobby, it seeks to jeopardise votes for the Labor Party within Muslim constituencies, particularly in West Sydney and the Bankstown-Canterbury areas, come the 2025 election. They believe that the opposition party would be more conducive to their narrow interests.”

“We commend the legal and rational response provided by the Australian government, asserting the impracticality of outlawing a sovereign government armed force, and urge the continuation of this sagacious strategy.

In a statement, AIFA said the signatories of the letter have never been members of their association and “have no connection with us’’.

“As a non-political entity, we have no connections or affiliations with the Iranian government or the Iranian embassy in Canberra. We want to make it unequivocally clear that we did not sign the letter and take issue with the unauthorised use of our name,” a spokesperson for AIFA said.

Senator Chandler had asked DFAT officials whether the Prime Minister or the Foreign Minister had responded to that letter.

Senator Wong said it did not ring a bell.

“If it’s very important for you to put this on the record, that’s fine … but no one at the table can recall anything about this letter, so there’s not much point telling us what’s in it. If you want to table it, fine, otherwise we’ll take it on notice,” Senator Wong said.

This week, a joint statement was issued from US agencies, including the Director of National Intelligence and the FBI, highlighting that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a significant foreign influence threat to elections in the United States, noting the regime’s role in both malicious cyber activities and that Iranian influence actors may also seek to create fake media content.