MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used two agents who once lived in Australia to direct arson attacks against Jewish targets in Sydney and Melbourne, the head of Australia’s domestic spy agency said on Wednesday.

“Iran continues to view Australia as a legitimate target for covertly directed acts of violence,” Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), said.

Australia last year blamed Iran for fires that damaged Lewis’ Continental Kitchen, a kosher eatery in Sydney, and Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue two months apart in 2024.

A major diplomatic rift led to Iran’s ambassador being expelled. Tehran denies the allegations.

Burgess, presenting his annual update on national security threats, said that an Australian citizen based in Iran directed the Sydney firebombing, while a former Australian resident living in Iraq had directed the Melbourne attack.

He did not name the suspects to protect ongoing investigations and criminal prosecutions.

The Australian citizen was a senior IRGC agent running its networks around the world, Burgess said.

Iran had recruited the man through a “complex web of Iraqi-based militia........

© The Times of Israel