Posted on 08/26/25
| News Source: FOX45
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accused Iran of organizing two antisemitic attacks in Australia and said the country was cutting off diplomatic relations with Tehran in response on Tuesday.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organization concluded the Iranian government had directed arson attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company, in Sydney in October last year and on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December last year, Albanese said.
Iran's government denied the allegations.
There has been a steep rise in antisemitic incidents in Sydney and Melbourne since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023.
Australian authorities have previously said they suspect that foreign actors are paying local criminals-for-hire to carry out attacks in the country.
Police have already arrested at least one suspect in the Sydney cafe fire investigation and two suspects directly accused of torching the Melbourne synagogue.
Sayed Mohammed Moosawi, a 32-year-old Sydney-based former chapter president of the Nomads biker gang, has been charged with directing the fire bombings of the Sydney café as well as the nearby Curly Lewis Brewery. The brewery was apparently confused for the café and mistakenly targeted three days earlier for an antisemitic attack.
Giovanni Laulu, a 21-year-old man from Melbourne, was charged last month with being one of three masked arsonists who caused extensive damage to the synagogue in December.
A second alleged arsonist, a 20-year-old man also from Melbourne, is expected to appear in court Wednesday, a police statement said. He has not been publicly named.
"ASIO has now gathered enough credible intelligence to reach a deeply disturbing conclusion," Albanese told reporters. "The Iranian government directed at least two of these attacks. Iran has sought to disguise its involvement but ASIO assesses it was behind the attacks.
"These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil," he said. "They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community. It is totally unacceptable."