TEHRAN: Iran vowed reciprocal action on Tuesday after Australia expelled its ambassador over accusations that Tehran was behind anti-Semitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.
“The accusation that has been made is absolutely rejected,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a weekly press conference, adding that “any inappropriate and unjustified action on a diplomatic level will have a reciprocal reaction”.
Dismissing the existence of any anti-Semitic inclinations across “Iran’s time-honoured cultural, historical, and religious background”, the spokesman said, “This phenomenon is rather a Western and European one”.
“If you look at history, persecution of Jews because of their religion is a matter rooted in Europe; and it is they who must be held accountable for their historical past, which has continued to this day,” Baqaei said.
Blamed for anti-Semitic attacks, Iran says Australian move influenced by recent protests against Israel
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said earlier that Iran was behind the torching of a kosher cafe in Sydney’s Bondi suburb in October 2024, and directed a major arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December of the same year.
Australia declared Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi “persona non grata” and ordered him and three other officials to leave the country within seven days.
It also withdrew its own ambassador to Iran and suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, which opened in 1968.
Baqaei said the measures appeared to be “influenced by internal developments” in Australia, including recent protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
“It seems that this action is taken in order to compensate for the limited criticism the Australian side has directed at the Zionist regime (Israel),” he added.
It marks the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II.
“Intelligence services reached the deeply disturbing conclusion that Iran directed at least two anti-Semitic attacks,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claimed.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Albanese said.
“They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community.”
The Australian diplomats were all “safe in a third country”, the Australian prime minister said.
Australia will also legislate to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, Albanese said.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said it was the first time in the post-war period that Australia had expelled an ambassador.
Canberra will maintain diplomatic lines with Iran to advance the interests of Australians, Wong said.
Though Australians have been advised not to travel through Iran since 2020, Wong said Canberra’s ability to provide consular assistance was now “extremely limited”.
“I do know that many Australians have family connections in Iran, but I urge any Australian who might be considering travelling to Iran, please do not do so,” she said.
“Our message is, if you are an Australian in Iran, leave now if it is safe to do so.”
The Australian intelligence service was still investigating possible Iranian involvement in a number of other attacks, Burgess said.
Israel’s embassy in Australia welcomed the government’s decision to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
“This is a step we have long advocated for,” it said in a statement posted on social media.
Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2025