Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Australia accusing Iran of orchestrating antisemitic attacks, France’s looming no-confidence vote, and mass flooding in Pakistan.

Australia severed diplomatic ties with Iran on Tuesday after Canberra’s spy agency found that Tehran had orchestrated at least two antisemitic attacks in the country. According to the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the Iranian government backed an arson attack on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company in Sydney, in October 2024 and one on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue two months later. The latter attack injured one congregant.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Australia accusing Iran of orchestrating antisemitic attacks, France’s looming no-confidence vote, and mass flooding in Pakistan.

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Australia severed diplomatic ties with Iran on Tuesday after Canberra’s spy agency found that Tehran had orchestrated at least two antisemitic attacks in the country. According to the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the Iranian government backed an arson attack on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company in Sydney, in October 2024 and one on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue two months later. The latter attack injured one congregant.

“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. “They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community. It is totally unacceptable.”

Australia’s spy agency concluded that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed people in the country to commit these crimes, “including people who are criminals and members of organized crime gangs to do their bidding or direct their bidding,” said agency chief Mike Burgess. Police have already arrested at least one suspect tied to the Sydney fire and two individuals accused of torching the Melbourne temple.

In response to the spy agency’s findings, Albanese ordered the expulsion of Iranian Ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi within the next seven days. This is the first time that Canberra has expelled an ambassador since World War II. In addition, Albanese closed the Australian Embassy in Tehran and withdrew Australian diplomats posted in........

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