Iran attacks us: Islamist regime exposed as an enemy of Australia and democracies everywhere

ASIO has exposed Iran's role in orchestrating terrorist attacks on Australian Jewish targets, as Australians in Iran are told to leave as soon as possible.

Artwork: Frank Ling

Iran’s Islamist regime used a web of spies and organised criminals to launch multiple terrorist attacks on Australia’s Jewish community, in an unprecedented assault on the nation’s social fabric that has sparked the severing of diplomatic ties with Tehran.

The Ayatollah’s ambassador to Australia has been expelled and Canberra’s envoy in Tehran has fled the country with his staff after ASIO informed the government Tehran was behind at least two attacks: last year’s firebombings of Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue and a kosher cafe in Sydney.

The revelation prompted a warning by Israel that the country’s mullahs were a threat to all Australians, not just the nation’s Jewish community.

Anthony Albanese – who declined to back Israel’s June airstrikes on Iran until Donald Trump endorsed them – said Tehran had launched an “attack on Australia” and his government would act quickly to list its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.

“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” the Prime Minister said in Canberra.

“They were attempts to ­undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community.”

Iran responded on Tuesday night, accusing Australia of aligning itself with “Zionist policies” and warning it may take diplomatic action. Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmail Baghaei told state media IRNA there would “definitely” be an impact on bilateral relations.

“Naturally, every appropriate and necessary response at the diplomatic level will be considered, and my colleagues and I are carefully studying the matter.”

Australia’s ambassador to Tehran, Ian McConville, fled the country on Monday with five staff and two dependants, amid fears for their safety. Australians in Iran were being told to leave as soon as possible, with no commonwealth diplomats left in the country to help them. “We continue to advise: do not travel to Iran,” the latest SmartTraveller advice says.

“If you’re in Iran, you should strongly consider leaving as soon as possible, if it is safe to do so. Foreigners in Iran, including Australians and dual Australian-Iranian nationals, are at a high risk of arbitrary detention or arrest.”

ASIO and the AFP had been alert to Iran’s potential links to anti-Semitic attacks in Australia since at least January, when federal police publicly warned “overseas actors” could be involved.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess told the government on Monday the agency had concluded that Iran had ordered the October 20, 2024 attack on Lewis’ Continental Kitchen, in Bondi, and the December 6, 2024 attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue, in Ripponlea. “ASIO now assesses the Iranian government directed at least two and likely more attacks on Jewish interests in Australia,” he said. “But I want to stress we do not believe the regime is responsible for every act of anti-Semitism in Australia.”

He said the IRGC had used “a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement”, while declining to say who carried out the attacks on Iran’s behalf. The domestic security chief said the regime had directed the crimes through “a layer cake of cut-outs” and “people that they know in the criminal world”.

A cut-out in the espionage world is a trusted intermediary used to pass information between agents.

“Are there crime gangs in Australia doing this? Not, in my view,” Mr Burgess said.

“There’s an organised crime element offshore in this. But that’s not to suggest organised crime are doing it.”

The Australian understands senior members of the government are being urged by security agencies not to conflate the ­Iranian-linked attacks with dozens of other anti-Semitic incidents and rising anti-Semitism in the community.

Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi has been given seven days to leave the country after being declared “persona non grata”. It is the first time since WWII that an Australian government has expelled a foreign ambassador.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government was taking the step because Iran’s “extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression … on Australian soil have crossed a line”.

Israel’s ambassador in Canberra, Amir Maimon, lauded the government’s decision to declare the IRGC as a terrorist organisation – an action long urged by the Jewish state. “Iran’s regime is not only a threat to Jews or Israel, it endangers the entire free world, including Australia,” he said.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Iran’s involvement in the attacks was unprecedented and aimed at creating fear and eroding social cohesion.

“It’s true that no one was injured in these attacks; it is not true that no one was harmed,” Mr Burke said. “The community of the Adass Israel Synagogue was harmed, the community that shopped at the Lewis’ Continental Kitchen and the owners were harmed. The Jewish community were harmed. Australia was attacked and Australia was harmed.”

Sussan Ley backed the government’s actions, noting the Coalition had already called for the Iranian ambassador to be expelled and the IRGC to be listed as a terrorist organisation.

“We are all disgusted to learn of the serious and chilling foreign interference which has been perpetrated by the Islamic Republic of Iran on Australian soil,” the Opposition Leader said in parliament on Tuesday.

“I therefore want to make abundantly clear on behalf of the Coalition, that while we sit opposite from the government in this chamber, we are entirely united behind the measures announced today.”

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said it was “not a complete surprise” that Iran was behind the attacks.

“AIJAC has long warned such Iranian involvement was a possibility that should be taken seriously,” Dr Rubenstein said. “But it is nonetheless a shock to see that possibility confirmed.

“As the Prime Minister said, this was a ­‘direct assault on Australian democracy and Jewish life’ by a foreign government.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said the Jewish community would find “some solace” from the findings of ASIO’s investigation. “This is not a regime that merely subjugates its own citizens and wages war in the Middle East through its proxies,” he said.

“It has consistently shown a willingness and capability to finance and orchestrate terror all over the world.”

Outspoken Iranian-Australian critic of the regime, Milad Kianpour, said the IRGC was “ruthless and inhumane” and should have been designated a terror organisation long ago.