Tehran downgraded diplomatic ties with Australia on Thursday, a week after Canberra expelled its ambassador over accusations that the Islamic Republic was behind two antisemitic arson attacks in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne.
“According to diplomatic law and in response to Australia‘s action, the Islamic Republic has also reciprocally reduced the level of Australia’s diplomatic presence in Iran,” Reuters quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as announcing, noting that Canberra’s ambassador had left Iran.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a press conference last Tuesday that operations at his country’s embassy in Tehran had been suspended and that all Australian diplomats were safe in a third country.
The antisemitic attacks “were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Albanese said. “They have sought to harm and terrorize Jewish Australians and sow hatred and division.”
He added, “Iran has sought to disguise its involvement, but ASIO [the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation] assesses it was behind the attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney on Oct. 20 last year, and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on Dec. 6 last year. ASIO assesses it is likely Iran directed further attacks as well.”
Canberra’s decision to expel the Iranian ambassador, its first such move since World War II, was the latest example of a Western government accusing Iran of carrying out hostile covert activities on foreign soil.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters that “there is no doubt that these extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil have crossed a line.”
