Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accused Iran on Tuesday of being behind a pair of 2024 antisemitic arson attacks in Australia and expelled Tehran’s ambassador, calling the Iranian actions “dangerous acts of aggression” designed to undermine his country’s social cohesion.

Albanese announced that Canberra had also pulled its diplomats from the Islamic Republic and will list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror organization. It marks the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II.

Less than a week ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a scathing letter to Albanese accusing him of failing to act against antisemitism in Australia and giving him a deadline of next month’s Rosh Hashanah Jewish new year holiday to act against the phenomenon.

At a press conference on Tuesday in Canberra, Albanese said the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) “has now gathered enough credible intelligence to reach a deeply disturbing conclusion that the Iranian government directed” at least two of the recent attacks on Australia’s Jewish community.

The first was an arson attack on Lewis’ Continental Kitchen, a kosher deli in Sydney, on October 20, 2024. The second was an arson attack targeting the Adass Israel synagogue on December 6, 2024.

Albanese said that ASIO also assessed that Iran likely directed additional attacks, but he did not reveal the intelligence obtained by the agency indicating this.

“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. It is totally unacceptable, and the Australian government is taking........

© The Times of Israel