Iran's deep involvement in antisemitic attacks in Australia should serve as a kick-in-the-head wake-up call to the European Union and the wider international community. Australia made the unprecedented decision to expel the Iranian ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, the first such diplomatic action in the country since World War II.
This unexpectedly welcome action came after the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation uncovered that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had orchestrated a series of antisemitic attacks on Australian soil. The attacks targeted a kosher restaurant in Sydney and a synagogue in Melbourne, causing significant property damage and sowing fear within the Jewish community, although fortunately nobody was killed in the attacks. Investigations revealed that the IRGC had employed intermediaries in Australia, including organized crime networks, to carry out these attacks, demonstrating the regime's continuing reliance on proxies to pursue its hostile objectives abroad.
Despite Iran's official denial of these allegations -- calling them as baseless and a conspiracy to undermine Iran-Australia relations -- the Australian government stood firm, emphasizing that such acts of terrorism and antisemitism could not be tolerated. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, further solidifying Australia's stance, signaled plans to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. This move underscores the necessity of a proactive and uncompromising approach to dealing with a regime that consistently operates through violence and intimidation, setting a clear contrast to the more cautious diplomatic engagements often observed from the European Union and the West.
The attacks in Australia are just part of a broader pattern of antisemitism and bellicosity from the Iranian regime against Jewish communities across the world. Iran's belligerency toward Jewish communities extended far beyond its borders. For decades, Iran, using terror and intimidation to advance its ideological agenda. Iran has systematically targeted Jewish institutions and individuals in multiple countries. The 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killed 85 people. Investigations revealed that Iran directed this attack in coordination with Hezbollah operatives, who carried out the bombing under Tehran's supervision. In 2024, Argentine courts, labeling Iran a terrorist state, reaffirmed its culpability for the 1994 terror attack.
Iran's predations not limited just to antisemitism; they extend broadly to global terrorism They have targeted Americans and other Westerners in foreign countries, from the 1980s onward. Iran has been implicated in multiple deadly attacks against American troops in Lebanon, killing hundreds of U.S. diplomats and military personnel, all carried out by Hezbollah under Tehran's guidance.
The Iranian regime also had a role in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US. In 2018, a U.S. federal court ruling determined that Iran provided material support to Al-Qaeda in the period leading up to and following the 9/11 attacks, resulting in a multibillion-dollar judgment for the families of the victims.
Iran regularly uses violent tactics abroad to advance its strategic goals, leveraging proxy organizations, so that Iran can maintain plausible deniability.
The regime has also targeted exiled Iranian dissidents in countries such as Iraq and Turkey, and has abducted and assassinated individuals who oppose it.
The regime actively plots terrorist attacks abroad, often leveraging its diplomatic missions as hubs for coordination with proxy groups and intelligence gathering.
Domestically, Iran's record is equally troubling. The regime routinely suppresses its own citizens through brutal measures, which include arbitrary detention, torture and executions, and demonstrates a savage disregard for civil liberties and human life. Human rights organizations have documented instances where even minors have been subjected to violent repression, including hanging children as young as nine (more atrocities here, here and here).
This dual approach — external aggression coupled with domestic repression — demonstrates a regime that thrives on intimidation, using both overt and covert operations to project power and maintain its authoritarian grip, leaving the international community exposed to its persistent threat.
Given Iran's long, documented history of antisemitism, terrorism and domestic repression, it is difficult to understand why some international actors have advocated for engagement, negotiation or sanctions relief with Iran. Diplomatic overtures and economic incentives have not only failed to curb the regime's aggressive behavior; they have emboldened it.
Australia's unequivocal response to Iranian terrorism is instructive. By expelling Iran's ambassador, severing diplomatic ties, and moving toward formally designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization, Australia has set a precedent that European nations and other members of the international community would do well to follow.
Closing Iranian embassies and consulates, expelling diplomats, and halting trade with Iran -- and especially secondary sanctions: banning trade with countries that trade with Iran -- would disrupt its operations, curb its influence, and send a message that the regime's pattern of aggression and antisemitism will not be tolerated.
The Israeli and American airstrikes on Iran's nuclear weapons sites, and now Australia's decisive new stance, demonstrate the path forward: a refusal to tolerate terror by a regime that has brought nothing but suffering and instability, both inside Iran and across the globe.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
