Australia rejects Israeli claims over Iran envoy expulsion

Shafaq News – Sydney

On Wednesday, Australia dismissed Israeli suggestions that its decision to expel Iran’s ambassador was influenced by outside pressure, insisting the move followed its own security assessment.

“This is absolute nonsense,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told ABC radio, stressing there had been “not a single minute” between receiving the intelligence review and beginning work on Canberra’s response.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had earlier accused Tehran of orchestrating a 2024 arson attack on a kosher café in Sydney’s Bondi suburb and a fire at the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne.

In response, Australia declared Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other Iranian diplomats persona non grata, giving them seven days to leave the country. Canberra also withdrew its envoy from Tehran and suspended operations at its mission there, active since 1968.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Albanese a “weak politician” and rejected the allegations as “illogical,” stating on X that Iran was “paying the price for the Australian people’s solidarity with Palestine” and warning Canberra against aligning with what he described as “a regime led by war criminals.”

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".Iran is home to among the world's oldest Jewish communities including dozens of synagogues. Accusing Iran of attacking such… pic.twitter.com/9usu56OW1E

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) August 26, 2025