Australia yesterday expelled Iran’s ambassador, accusing the country of being behind anti-Semitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.
It marks the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II.
Intelligence services reached the “deeply disturbing conclusion” that Iran directed at least two anti-Semitic attacks, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Photo: EPA
Tehran was behind the torching of a kosher cafe in October last year, he told a news conference.
It also directed a major arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December last year, he said, citing the intelligence findings.
No injuries were reported in the two attacks.
Photo: Reuters
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Albanese said.
“They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community,” he said.
An Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman denied the accusations and vowed “reciprocal reaction” to any unjustified diplomatic measures by Australia.
Australia declared Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi “persona non grata,” and ordered him and three other officials to leave the country within seven days.
Australia also withdrew its own ambassador to Iran and suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, which opened in 1968.
The Australian diplomats were all “safe in a third country,” Albanese said.
Australia will also legislate to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, he said.
Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (黃英賢) said it was the first time in the post-war period that Canberra had expelled an ambassador.
Canberra will maintain diplomatic lines with Iran to advance the interests of Australians, she said.
Although Australians have been advised not to travel to Iran since 2020, Wong said Canberra’s ability to provide consular assistance was now “extremely limited.”
“I do know that many Australians have family connections in Iran, but I urge any Australian who might be considering traveling to Iran, please do not do so,” she said.
“Our message is, if you are an Australian in Iran, leave now if it is safe to do so,” she said.
A “painstaking” intelligence service investigation had uncovered links between the anti-Semitic attacks and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Director-General Michael Burgess said.
The probe found that the Guard directed at least two and “likely” more attacks on Jewish interests in Australia, he said.
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new
RSS