Iran’s ambassador expelled over attacks in Australia
On 26 August 2025, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: "ASIO has gathered enough credible intelligence to reach a deeply disturbing conclusion - that the Iranian Government directed at least two of these attacks." The two attacks were the arson of Lewis' Continental Kitchen in Sydney on 20 October 2024 and of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on 6 December 2024. ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) "used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement". He said "the Embassy was not involved" and that "some of the alleged perpetrators did this because they were paid to do it."
The government expelled Iran's ambassador. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said: "we have declared Iran's Ambassador to Australia persona non grata, as well as three other Iranian officials and they will have seven days to leave the country. This is the first time in the post-war period that Australia has expelled an ambassador." ABC named the ambassador as Ahmad Sadeghi. Australia suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran and moved its diplomats to a third country. ABC reported that Iran's foreign ministry called the move "an assault on diplomacy".
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said: "It's true that no one was injured in these attacks, it is not true that no one was harmed." On 27 November 2025, under the new Criminal Code Amendment (State Sponsors of Terrorism) Act 2025, the government listed the IRGC as a state sponsor of terrorism. It was the first listing under that framework, with penalties of up to 25 years' imprisonment.
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