Iranian ambassador leaves Australia amid diplomatic rift over antisemitic attacks

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SYDNEY (AP) — Iran's ambassador to Australia was seen preparing to leave the country on Thursday, days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ordered him to leave over accusations that Tehran masterminded at least two antisemitic arson attacks in the country.

Local television stations Network Seven and Network Nine spoke to Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi as he headed for a flight at the airport in Sydney.

Albanese cut off diplomatic relations with Iran on Tuesday after announcing that Australian intelligence officials had concluded that Iran had directed arson attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company in Sydney, in October 2024 and on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue two months later.

The Australian government told Sadeghi that he would be expelled shortly before making the accusation public, Albanese said.

Albanese previously resisted calls to expel Iran’s envoy to Canberra before, analysts said, including in 2024 when Sadeghi was summoned for meetings with foreign ministry officials over his social media posts.

There has been a steep rise in antisemitic incidents in Sydney and Melbourne since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023, and Australian authorities have previously said they suspect that foreign actors are paying local criminals-for-hire to carry out attacks in the country.

Mike Burgess, the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, said no Iranian diplomats in Australia were involved in coordinating the attacks.

Neither Burgess nor Albanese explained what evidence there was of Iranian involvement.