Australia has given Iran's ambassador seven days to leave the country after alleging the country's government directed antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.
Intelligence services linked Iran to an arson attack on a cafe in Sydney in October last year, and another on a synagogue in Melbourne in December, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a press conference on Tuesday.
Albanese added the two incidents were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community.
Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other officials have been ordered to leave Australia, which has withdrawn its own diplomats from Tehran. Iran has absolutely rejected the allegations.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman added the decision to expel their envoy was driven by Australia's domestic policies.
However, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) chief Mike Burgess said his teams had uncovered links between the alleged crimes and the commanders in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, following a painstaking, months-long investigation.
He added that the IRGC had used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement in the attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney on October 20, and Melbourne's Adass Israel Synagogue on December 6.
Australia's intelligence services had also found evidence Iran was likely to be behind other antisemitic incidents in Australia, which has seen attacks on Jewish schools, homes, vehicles, and synagogues since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, Iran's ally, and the ensuing war in Gaza.
In the same period, civil society group the Islamophobic Register has recorded a rise in Islamophobic incidents.
Police first indicated they were looking into the possibility that attacks on Jewish-linked property were being directed by overseas actors back in January.
The findings revealed on Tuesday were deeply disturbing, Albanese said, describing the incidents as extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression.
In the second incident, a number of worshippers were forced to flee as the fire took hold of the synagogue, which was built by Holocaust survivors in the 1960s.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong stated this was the first time since World War Two that Australia had expelled an ambassador.
Wong also urged Australians not to travel to Iran and called for any citizens in the country to leave if safe to do so. Albanese's government plans to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization.
The Israeli embassy in Canberra welcomed the moves against Iran, stating that, Iran's regime is not only a threat to Jews or Israel, it endangers the entire free world, including Australia, according to a statement on social media.