Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accused Iran of organising two antisemitic attacks in Australia and said the country was cutting off diplomatic relations with Tehran in response.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organization concluded the Iranian government had directed arson attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company, in Sydney in October last year and on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December last year, Albanese said.
Iran’s government denied the allegations.
There has been a steep rise in antisemitic incidents in Sydney and Melbourne since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023.
Australian authorities have previously said they suspect that foreign actors are paying local criminals-for-hire to carry out attacks in the country.
Police have already arrested at least one suspect in the Sydney cafe fire investigation and two suspects directly accused of torching the Melbourne synagogue.
“ASIO has now gathered enough credible intelligence to reach a deeply disturbing conclusion,” Albanese told reporters. “The Iranian government directed at least two of these attacks. Iran has sought to disguise its involvement but ASIO assesses it was behind the attacks.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” he said. “They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community. It is totally unacceptable.”
Albanese said that Australia will legislate to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.
Australia’s law makes providing support to a listed terrorist organization a crime.
