The timing of the Aus­trali­an government’s announce­ment con­firm­ing the Iranian regime’s involve­ment in at least two antisemitic attacks in Melbourne and Sydney was unex­pec­ted, but the rev­el­a­tions them­selves are not sur­pris­ing.

In December 2022, the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry warned a par­lia­ment­ary inquiry into events in Iran about regular reports from Jewish community insti­tu­tions in Australia of sus­pi­cious sur­veil­lance behaviour. We noted that some indi­vidu­als seeking entry produced ID documents indic­at­ing that they were of Iranian back­ground.

Together with our friends in the Iranian community and many others, we called on the Aus­trali­an gov­ern­ment to proscribe the Islamic Revolu­tion­ary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organ­isa­tion. The report of the par­lia­ment­ary inquiry adopted this recom­mend­a­tion, but the gov­ern­ment did not act on it.

Then came October 7, followed by a massive upsurge in antisemitic incidents in Australia and other Western countries.

On 20 October 2024, arsonists set fire to a well-known del­icatessen in Sydney owned by a Jewish family, and on December 6 the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne was fire­bombed and burned to the ground. From the beginning, the Aus­trali­an Federal Police made oblique ref­er­ences to the pos­sib­il­ity of offshore actors being involved.

Arrests of some alleged per­pet­rat­ors took place during 2025.

Now the head of the Aus­trali­an Security and Intel­li­gence Organ­isa­tion Mike Burgess has confirmed that the Iranian regime was ulti­mately behind both attacks, and was “likely” behind other attacks as well. Those arrested were just low-level local criminals paid to provide crime as a service. He described “a layer cake of cut-outs between IRGC and the person or the alleged per­pet­rat­ors con­duct­ing crimes,” indic­at­ing a web of local and off-shore criminal inter­me­di­ar­ies.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the announce­ment himself, alongside Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, the head of the Aus­trali­an Federal Police and Mike Burgess – a phalanx of Australia’s top national security actors. Each of them cas­tig­ated the Iranian regime for violating Australia’s sov­er­eignty and national security, endan­ger­ing its citizens, attacking a place of worship, causing severe loss and damage to property and under­min­ing social cohesion by targeting Australia’s Jewish community.

The fallout has been dramatic. All Aus­trali­an embassy staff have been evacuated from Iran. The Iranian ambas­sad­or in Australia and all embassy staff have been declared persona non grata and ordered to leave the country, the first expulsion of an ambas­sad­or by Australia since 1942.

Now, a year and a half after the par­lia­ment­ary com­mit­tee’s recom­mend­a­tion, the Aus­trali­an gov­ern­ment has decided to amend the Criminal Code to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organ­iz­a­tion.

The nefarious oper­a­tions of the Islamic Republic all over the world have become notorious: From attempted murder and kid­nap­ping, to bombing and cyber­at­tacks, Australia joins a long list of countries not only in the Middle East, but in countries as far afield as Argentina and the U.S. where Iran has suc­cess­fully or unsuc­cess­fully waged its uncon­ven­tion­al warfare. Much of this activity has been conducted through the IRGC and its sub­si­di­ary organ­iz­a­tions, including the Quds Force, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis and Al-Qaeda.

The IRGC is not, and does not see itself as, a national instru­ment of the Iranian state, but rather as a supra­na­tion­al instru­ment of the “Islamic revolu­tion,” seeking to entrench theo­crat­ic rule in Iran and export the Islamic revolu­tion globally.

So, as welcome as the new measures taken by the Aus­trali­an gov­ern­ment are, they also heighten rather than alleviate the anxieties of many Aus­trali­an Jews. We know that we have been targeted by state terrorism, and yet many of our questions remain unanswered.

For example, are any IRGC agents or their inter­me­di­ar­ies still in a position to cause us further harm? Has the danger to our community from the Iranian regime passed?

Has the IRGC pen­et­rated Aus­trali­an protests against the war in Gaza and groups which engage in hate pro­pa­ganda against both Israel and Israel’s Jewish sup­port­ers?

Jews and many others have expressed concern about the large photo of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei held aloft at the forefront of a march protest­ing the Gaza war across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on August 3. Other pro­test­ers have carried Hamas, al-Qaeda and Islamic State flags. They are con­sist­ently present at such protests.

Above all, why did the Iranian regime target Jews in Australia? Was it con­sciously seeking to undermine a stable Western democracy by stoking antisemitism and fear? If so, why?

Here is one possible answer. The Islamic Republic is nowhere more despised than among the Iranian people who yearn for their freedom in repeated anti-gov­ern­ment protests. Reacting in fear, Iran’s dic­tat­or­ship seeks to intim­id­ate by demon­strat­ing that its reach can extend to all parts of the world.

With this in mind, the threat to the Jewish community in Australia is ongoing. Yet in the longer term we can also take heart, knowing that the regime’s criminal attempts to project power are a sign of its weakness, not strength.