Iranian Ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi, arriving at Sydney Airport before an expulsion deadline, rejects as “lies” Australia’s accusation that Tehran directed antisemitic arson attacks in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne.
Australia gave Sadeghi 72 hours on Tuesday to leave the country, the nation’s first expulsion of an ambassador since World War II. Three other Iranian embassy officials were given seven days to leave.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was briefed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation on Monday on evidence of payments to criminals that he said linked two attacks, on a synagogue and a kosher restaurant, to offshore individuals and Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“These are all baseless allegations and lies,” Sadeghi tells reporters from local television networks Nine and Seven at Sydney Airport.
Earlier in Canberra, Sadeghi came outside his residence to say goodbye.
“I love Australian people, bye bye,” he said, waving to television cameras.
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