This appeared a day of so ago:
Opinion
Iran’s expulsion from Australia is self-inflicted damage on the regime
The last time Australia expelled an ambassador was over 80 years ago, and the internal recriminations over the IRGC’s incompetence are only getting started.
Patrick Gibbons Corporate adviser
Aug 27, 2025 – 10.50am
Iran’s ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi has form. His tweets from last August calling for Israel’s destruction were a clear indication of what he thought. But his embassy’s role in the attacks on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne and in Sydney took it to another level. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s extraordinary decision to expel Sadeghi should be welcomed.
The last time Australia expelled an ambassador was over 80 years ago, when Japan’s was kicked out after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour. Unlike then, when Australia was a belligerent, Australia has instead been targeted with the kind of activities the Iranian regime has long practised elsewhere via the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iran’s ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi has been given 72 hours to leave Australia. Rohan Thomson
Many suspected Iran’s involvement in the attacks on the Addas Israel synagogue in Melbourne last December and those in Bondi. They had all the hallmarks of the regime’s MO of using local criminals to undertake attacks. As ASIO Director Mike Burgess made clear, there are likely more.
A regular feature in Europe, the UK, Canada and most recently in the US, where the regime was behind a plot to assassinate President Donald Trump, it remains the regime’s preferred way of murdering dissidents and exporting terror abroad.
In addition to regularly targeting Israeli diplomats and their families, the IRGC has a long history of attacking Jewish targets around the world. One of the worst was the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish cultural centre in Buenos Aires, where 85 people were killed and hundreds more injured. Though the regime denied involvement, the Argentinian government was clear – Iran was involved.
These attacks reflect the regime’s visceral hatred of and obsession with Israel that goes back to its founder Ayatollah Khomeini. His successor as supreme leader – Ayatollah Khamenei – is the same. The regular chants of “death to Israel” are no joke. It is one of the revolution’s consistent themes. Ambassador Sadeghi is part of this malevolent tradition.
For the most part, Australia has not been a significant target of Iran’s attention. While there had been reports of harassment and threats towards members of the Iranian diaspora, Hamas’ attack on Israel saw Iran’s activities in Australia ramp up. And controlling this has been the IRGC.
“It was no accident that pictures of Khamenei were prominently displayed at the pro-Palestinian march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.”
Formed in 1979 following the revolution, the IRGC’s original purpose was to safeguard the new Islamic Republic. It came to the fore during the eight-year war with Iraq, which only ended when Ayatollah Khomeini reluctantly accepted a ceasefire in 1988 as it became obvious the regime’s future was at stake.
Subsequently, the IRGC morphed into a powerful economic entity with interests in energy, telecommunications, resources and transport, using some of these to finance its international operations. It is intimately linked to current supreme leader Khamenei.
Central to the regime’s regional ambitions aimed at destroying Israel, the IRGC, under its former Quds force commander Qasem Soleimani, put in place the Ring of Fire strategy. Involving Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthi forces in Yemen, and Shia militia in Iraq and Syria, the Ring of Fire was the IRGC’s grand plan to destroy Israel.
Almost two years after the Hamas attack, the Ring of Fire strategy lies in tatters, and with it the IRGC’s reputation. With Israel able to attack Iran and its senior leadership with relative impunity, along with the US strikes on the nuclear facilities in June, the IRGC failed the critical test for which it was established – to protect the regime.
Given the role of the IRGC in putting down the protests that enveloped Iran in 2022 following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for not properly wearing hijab, it’s not surprising many Iranians see the loathed IRGC as little more than brutal enforcers for a discredited government.
The diplomatic expulsion of Iran’s diplomats from Canberra, along with the Albanese government’s announcement that it will join Canada and other Western countries in listing the IRGC as a terrorist entity, will contribute to the regime’s challenges, not least as another example of self-inflicted damage.
The internal recriminations over the IRGC’s incompetence are only getting started.
Already there are demands from reformists in the Iranian system to remove the IRGC from politics, to release political prisoners and lift censorship, along with Iran ceasing its nuclear enrichment activities. There is also open questioning as to why Iran has squandered billions of dollars pursuing strategies that have been dismantled in a matter of months.
With power blackouts a regular feature, water shortages widespread, and reports of meat shortages, the regime faces increasingly tough questions about where to from here, and the role of the IRGC.
By directly targeting Australia’s Jewish community and looking to fan the flames of antisemitism, the Iranian regime has directly interfered in Australia’s polity. It was no accident that pictures of Ayatollah Khamenei were prominently displayed at the pro-Palestinian march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on August 3.
Kicking out Iran’s ambassador and proscribing the IRGC are the right things to do.
Here is the link:
I have to agree we are better off without this lot in Australia!
David.
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