Key Points
- Iran’s ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi praised the slain Hezbollah leader in a social media post.
- On Friday, Opposition leader Peter Dutton called for the government to remove Sadeghi from his position.
- AICA has supported Dutton’s call, saying Sadeghi’s comments constitute “hate crimes”.
An Iranian-Australian community group has supported Opposition leader .
In an open letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, the vice president of the Australian Iranian Community Alliance (AICA) Suren Edgar, expressed concern about diplomatic engagement with Iran’s ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi.
Why is Sadeghi facing calls for expulsion?
Sadeghi praised in a post on social media platform X on 29 September. Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli air attack on Lebanon’s capital Beirut on 27 September.
Sadeghi said the leader of the Lebanese militant group was a “great personality, an outstanding standard-bearer and an exceptional leader”.
He also said his “path in the fight against the oppression and occupation of criminal Zionism will be continued”.
On Friday, Opposition leader Peter Dutton called for Sadeghi to be removed from his position, telling reporters that the ambassador’s comments were “utterly at odds with what is in our country’s best interests”.
“Do I think the Iranian ambassador should be expelled from our country? Should he be persona non grata? Absolutely he should,” he said.
In his letter to Wong, Edgar wrote that Sadeghi’s comments about Nasrallah, as well as comments he made in August referring to Israel as a “Zionist plague”, showed evidence of the “Islamic Republic’s endorsement of extremist agendas and its intricate ties with Hezbollah”.
He said Australia’s diplomatic engagements with representatives from the Islamic Republic in Iran, particularly in light of Sadeghi’s recent comments, “not only threaten regional stability but also contravene the values we uphold as a nation committed to global peace and security”.
Referring to the display of Hezbollah flags at recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Edgar also warned that they were a “grim indication of the proliferation of these dangerous ideologies into Australian society”.
The letter called for Wong to publicly clarify Australia’s relations with Iran as well as a strategy to address its ambassador’s comments and “the public advocacy of terrorism”.
Speaking to SBS News, Edgar said AICA supports Dutton’s call for the Australian government to remove Sadeghi from his position.
He said the ambassador’s comments constitute “hate speech”, and he feels frustrated that he hasn’t seen more serious consequences for his statements.
“We need our government to take strong action because we believe that, as a multicultural community, it’s against our values,” he said.
Edgar said he is concerned that Sadeghi’s comments will be misconstrued as representative of all Iranians in Australia.
“It’s not easy to think our neighbour or classmate or colleague thinks that the position or the hate speech from the ambassador will be taken as a position of the whole community.”
Executive Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Justin Bassi, told SBS News the government has the power to remove Sadeghi.
“If the Australian government feels that the diplomat is acting in a way not in our national interest, then the government can, of course, decide who is given the diplomatic coverage to come into and stay into, into Australia.”
The Australian government’s response
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday that the government “condemns any support for terrorist organisations like Hezbollah”, but it was not in Australia’s national interests to remove the ambassador.
Albanese said Australia’s relationship with Iran has continued “not because we agree with the regime but because it’s in Australia’s national interest”.
SBS News understands Sadeghi was also called into a meeting with the chief of protocol at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, reminded of his obligation to respect Australian law and told to stay out of domestic affairs.
Edgar said these meetings may not be enough to deter Sadeghi from making similar comments in the future.
“He’s just supporting the ideology of the Islamic Republic, and he’s supporting the ideology of terrorist type organisations, supporting the terrorist leaders,” he said.
“When he’s brave enough to do it in public, it means we have a very weak policy here. So call him and talk to him, that won’t work, never.”
Australian ambassador summoned in Tehran
Over the weekend, Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the Australian ambassador in Tehran over what it said was his country’s biased stance on Iran’s attack against Israel, Iranian news agency Tasnim reported on Sunday.
Ian McConville was summoned due to his country’s repeated bias, the report said, including on Iran’s response to what it called “the Zionist regime,” meaning Israel.
Australia’s embassy in Tehran did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on Sunday.
