AFP: Iran vowed reciprocal action on Tuesday after Australia expelled its ambassador over accusations that Tehran was behind antisemitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.
“The accusation that has been made is absolutely rejected,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a weekly press conference, adding that “any inappropriate and unjustified action on a diplomatic level will have a reciprocal reaction”.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said earlier that Iran was behind the torching of a kosher cafe in Sydney’s Bondi suburb in October 2024, and directed a major arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December of the same year.
No injuries were reported in the two attacks.
Australia declared Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi “persona non grata” and ordered him and three other officials to leave the country within seven days.
It also withdrew its own ambassador to Iran and suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, which opened in 1968.
Baqaei said the measures appeared to be “influenced by internal developments” in Australia, including recent protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. “It seems that this action is taken in order to compensate for the limited criticism the Australian side has directed at the Zionist regime (Israel),” he added.
