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Iranian diplomatic staff have been directed to leave Australia after the country allegedly “had a crack at social cohesion” in two attacks in Sydney and Melbourne, according to ASIO boss Mike Burgess.
Iran “lit the matches and fanned the flames” to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in the Australian community, according to a public statement from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Director-General of Security.
Earlier today, the federal government announced it had collected enough credible intelligence to confirm that Iran directed and attempted to disguise its involvement in an attack at Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney on 20 October last year and Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on 6 December last year.
The Iranian ambassador to Australia and three additional Iranian diplomats have now been expelled from Australia, according to an official statement. In addition, Australia has suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran and listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
“For the past 10 months, anti-Semitism has been one of ASIO’s most pressing priorities, involving the full use of our capabilities and powers. We have investigate dozens of incidents targeting Jewish communities, places of worship, businesses and prominent individuals,” Burgess said.
“ASIO now assesses the Iranian government directed at least two and likely more attacks on Jewish interests in Australia. Our painstaking investigation uncovered and unpicked the links between the alleged crimes and the commanders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC.
“The IRGC used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement. This is the sort of obfuscation and boundary blurring I warned about earlier this year.
“It’s important to understand that ASIO is both a collector of intelligence and an assessor of intelligence. Formal assessments such as this one are not done quickly or taken lightly. Our analysts carefully weight and weight every piece of intelligence.
“In this case, their conclusions are clear. ASIO is still investigating possible Iranian involvement in a number of other attacks, but I want to stress we do not believe the regime is responsible for every act of anti-Semitism in Australia.
“It goes without saying that Iran’s actions are unacceptable. 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.
“I want to assure all Australians that ASIO and our law enforcement partners take these matters extremely seriously. You do not just have the right to be safe, you have the right to feel safe.”
Director-General Burgess confirmed that the plots, investigated since October last year, were directed by the IRGC through a series of overseas cutout facilitators to coordinators that found their way to tasking Australians.
“It’s a layer cake of cutouts between IRGC and the person or the alleged perpetrators conducting crimes. In between them, they tap into a number of people, agents of IRGC, and people that they know in the criminal world, and work through there, so it’s a series of chains. There’s an organised crime, there’s an organised crime element offshore in this. But that’s not to suggest organised crime are doing it. They’re just using cutouts, including people who are criminal and members of organised crime gangs to do their bidding or direct their bidding … in Australia.
“The IRGC has form in conducting, going after dissidents or anything they consider a threat to the regime in other countries. But this is particularly unique to Australia, having a crack at our social cohesion.”
