<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="http://9news.com.au/iran" rel="" target="" title="Iran's"><span>Iran's</span></a><span> foreign minister has labelled </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/australia" rel="" target="" title="Australian"><span>Australian</span></a><span> Prime Minister </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/anthony-albanese" rel="" target="" title="Anthony Albanese"><span>Anthony Albanese</span></a><span> "weak", deliberately echoing the words of the leader of Iran's sworn enemy </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/israel" rel="" target="" title="Israel"><span>Israel</span></a><span> in response to the expulsion of Tehran's ambassador to Canberra.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/iran-orchestrated-at-least-two-antisemitic-attacks-in-australia-anthony-albanese-says/d0cede9a-6c94-4f68-b86d-29099be3f514" rel="" target="" title="Albanese yesterday revealed Iran orchestrated at least two alleged antisemitic firebombings on Australian soil"><span>Albanese yesterday revealed Iran orchestrated at least two alleged antisemitic firebombings on Australian soil</span></a><span> last year, a subject that's sure to come up when Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles meets with US Vice President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth this morning.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In response to the "unprecedented attack" on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne and Lewis' Continental Kitchen in Sydney last year, Australia expelled ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other Iranian officials, while declaring Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/iran-orchestrated-at-least-two-antisemitic-attacks-in-australia-anthony-albanese-says/d0cede9a-6c94-4f68-b86d-29099be3f514" rel="" target="" title="Iran orchestrated at least two antisemitic attacks on Australian soil, PM says"><strong><span>Iran orchestrated at least two antisemitic attacks on Australian soil, PM says</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said his intelligence organisation found Iran directed "at least two and likely more attacks on Jewish interests in Australia", using "a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Our painstaking investigation uncovered and unpicked the links between the alleged crimes and commanders in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Burgess did not lay out the specific evidence tying the IRGC to the attacks but said such formal assessments were "not done quickly or taken lightly" and the agency's intelligence analysts' conclusions were clear.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/iran-australia-ambassador-expelled-over-attacks-on-synagogue-and-restaurant-foreign-minister-abbas-araghchi-responds/26fd6d68-a5fb-404e-927d-bfc39bd34c78" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei rejected the "baseless" accusations, vowing a "reciprocal response" before Foreign Minister </span><a href="https://x.com/araghchi" rel="" target="" title=""><span>Abbas Araghchi</span></a><span> stepped up the rhetoric.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Early this morning, he shared a screenshot of a BBC article reporting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's extraordinary personal attack last week on Albanese in retaliation for promising to recognise a Palestinian state and blocking a far-right Israeli MP from visiting Australia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I am not in the habit of joining causes with wanted War Criminals, but Netanyahu is right about one thing: Australia's PM is indeed a 'weak politician'," </span><a href="https://x.com/araghchi"><span>Araghchi</span></a><span> said, on X.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-explainer/38561258-a275-4f50-9153-7e438e160626"><strong><span>'Revolutionary' terror group behind antisemitic attacks in Australia</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="tweet" data-tweet-id="1960350042008531222" data-user="9NewsAUS"></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Iran is home to among the world's oldest Jewish communities including dozens of synagogues. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Accusing Iran of attacking such sites in Australia while we do our utmost to protect them in our own country makes zero sense."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/benjamin-netanyahu-anthony-albanese-promise-to-recognise-palestinian-state-amid-israel-war-gaza/9a65cbfb-edad-434b-b3c0-f5084984b084"><span>Netanyahu last week labelled Albanese</span></a><span> a "weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews" before </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/israel-benjamin-netanyahu-escalates-personal-attack-on-anthony-albanese/82fcaba7-1efd-4532-9efa-3a22c974790b"><span>taking to Australian TV to double down on his personal attack</span></a><span>. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In response Albanese said he treated world leaders with respect and "doesn't take these things personally", but Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke didn't show such restraint.</span></div></div><div class="tweet" data-tweet-id="1957722795049398502" data-user="9NewsAUS"></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up, or how many children you can leave hungry," Burke said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Early this morning, Araghchi claimed Iran was "paying the price for the Australian people's support for Palestine". </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Canberra should know better than to attempt to appease a regime led by War Criminals," he wrote.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Doing so will only embolden Netanyahu and his ilk."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Michael Shoebridge, a former Australian defence and security official and director of the think tank Strategic Analysis Australia, said he didn't believe the move to expel the Iranian ambassador was prompted by Israel's complaints.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I don't think that's a matter of Australia-Israel relations, but a matter of community cohesion here in Australia," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Yesterday was the first time Canberra has declared a foreign ambassador persona non grata since the end of World War II.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil," Albanese said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Flinders University international conflict expert Dr Jessica Genauer said the looming designation of the IRGC as a terrorist group was just as remarkable as the expulsion of the ambassador.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's very unusual for a state to designate part of another state entity as a terror group," she said, describing the IRGC as even more tightly integrated with the state of Iran than Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Taliban, which was not in power at the time of Australia's designation, in Afghanistan.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"So that's something else we're seeing that is almost unprecedented."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She told 9News the attacks by Iran were unlikely to be unique to Australia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's just that this is the first time that our intelligence agencies are coming out in such a strong way and saying, 'Yes, we have clear evidence that links the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to these terror attacks on Australian soil'."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Burke earlier in the day said Iran's actions were an "unprecedented attack" on Australia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's aimed at creating fear, stoking internal divisions, and eroding social cohesion. It's true that no one was injured in these attacks, it's not true that no one was harmed," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin described Albanese's announcement as both comforting and "chilling".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Well, on the one hand, it brings us some comfort to know that our law enforcement and security agencies are so good and working so hard to keep us safe, to bring the perpetrators to justice, to uncover the layers of this plot and to protect all Australians from terrorism," he told 9News. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But on the other hand, to learn, have confirmed what the Iranian regime that plotted and had carried out at least two of the attacks, it's a chilling development because you're dealing with a foreign actor which has sown discord and bloodshed throughout the Middle East and the wider world for many years."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Australian Iranian Community Organisation president Siamak Ghahreman welcomed the federal government's decision.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The Iranian government is against its own people, and that's why many people who are living in Australia actually flee the country," he told 9News.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>- Reported with Associated Press.</span></em><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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