Australia has severed diplomatic ties with Iran after disclosing that Tehran was behind at least two violent antisemitic attacks on Australian soil. 

The Australian spy chief, Mike Burgess, said that the attacks on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue in December and Sydney’s Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in October were orchestrated by Iran and that Tehran is likely behind other attacks as well. 

“They put lives at risk, they terrified the community and they tore at our social fabric. Iran and its proxies literally and figuratively lit the matches and fanned the flames,” Mr. Burgess said. 

The government is now seeking to designate the IRGC a terror group, as it played a central role in orchestrating the attacks. 

“The IRGC used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement. It’s a series of chains. There’s an organized crime element offshore in this, but that’s not to suggest organized crime are doing it. They’re just using cut-outs,” Mr. Burgess said. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil.”

“The Australian people want two things. They want killing in the Middle East to stop, and they don’t want conflict in the Middle East brought here. Iran has sought to do just that. They have sought to harm and terrorise Jewish Australians and sow hatred and division in our community,” Mr. Albanese said.

In response to the attacks the Australian government expelled Iran’s ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, and three other officials. They have been given seven days to leave the country. 

Australia recalled its ambassador at Tehran, suspending all diplomatic work at the embassy. 

The president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, Jeremy Leibler, told The New York Sun: “It is deeply concerning that these attacks were orchestrated by the Iranian regime and Australia has responded appropriately. The Jewish community is understandably shocked not just at this news but at the explosion of antisemitism we have experienced in Australia since 7 October.”

Mr. Leibler added that the Jewish community is “strong and resilient and have confidence that the overwhelming majority of Australians will see this for what it is — an attack on Australian values as much as it is an attack on the Jewish community.”

The president of the National Council of Jewish Women Australia, Lynda Rae Ben-Menashe, told the Sun that the Jewish community in Australia is “not at all surprised that the IRGC is behind these attacks. Their decades’ long war against Jewish people and Israel, first came to international attention with the bombing of the Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994, which murdered 85 people and injured over 300.”

“If our government had stamped out the hate speech and incitement to violence against Jewish Australians when it first appeared at the Sydney Opera House on October 9 we might have avoided nearly two years of escalating violence,” she said, adding that the government’s move to expel Iranian diplomats “is hugely significant.”

“It sends a strong signal to all those who wish to import the Islamic Regime’s human rights violations into Australia, including its hatred and violence towards Jews, women and the LGBTQ+ community, that the Australian government is now serious about stopping them.”

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said it was the first time since World War II that Australia expelled foreign diplomats.

“I know many Australians have family connections in Iran, but I urge any Australian who may be considering traveling to Iran, please do not do so. If you’re an Australian in Iran, leave now if it is safe to do so,” she said.