Australia severs diplomatic ties with Iran over alleged involvement

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Dara Conduit is a middle east analyst specialising in Iran from the University of Melbourne. She says the announcement today was unexpected.

Transcript

00:00It's a really shocking thing, really shocking escalation of Iran's international operations.

00:08We haven't seen anything like this previously in Australia, but what I will say is this

00:13is something that Iran has been doing internationally for some time.

00:18How significant is it, do you think, for Australia to be expelling the ambassador and closing

00:23its embassy in Tehran?

00:25I think that's significant and I think Iran has left the Australian government with very

00:29little choice.

00:30Iran has now carried out an attack on Australian citizens in this country and I don't think

00:38that's the sort of thing that should be rewarded by having an embassy in this country.

00:42So what does that mean now for Australian diplomacy with Tehran?

00:47The Foreign Minister said today that they wouldn't sever all ties, but with the ambassador expelled

00:52and the Australian embassy closed, how could any sort of diplomatic relationship be maintained?

00:57I mean, diplomatic relationships don't just exist in country.

01:01They exist at multilateral forums and there are all sorts of ways.

01:04We have telephones these days.

01:06So it doesn't make a huge difference if they want to continue to pursue diplomatic relations.

01:11What it does mean is that the Australians who are in jail and in Iran will not have consular

01:17access.

01:18This is perhaps to me a more significant consideration, that those inside Iran will be served, served

01:26worse.

01:27They'll be worse off.

01:28Why would Iran be carrying out attacks like this in Australia?

01:33What does the regime gain from this?

01:35I mean, I think Iran makes a calculation that this is something it can do to make Israel

01:42feel very unsafe.

01:43So in the last five or so years, Iran has worked with criminal groups in Belgium, in Germany

01:50and in Sweden to also carry out attacks against Jewish people and also Israeli interests.

01:56And it seems that they're replicating that playbook here.

01:59And they're trying to send a message to Israel, I think, that Israel and its interests are

02:05not safe anywhere.

02:07If Iran is behind attacks such as these two in Australia and likely more, as ASIO says,

02:15how likely is it that they're also carrying out attacks in other countries?

02:19You flagged that this was something that has been going on internationally for some time.

02:23Yeah, this has been part of their playbook.

02:25There are also cases in the United States.

02:27So it's been happening globally.

02:29And I mean, what's happened, the announcement today is shocking.

02:33And it's obviously marks a massive deterioration of the Australia-Iran relationship.

02:38But it's not new per se, because they have been doing this for some time.

02:42And I just want to touch on something you said earlier about what this means for Australians

02:47in prisons in Iran.

02:51If you could just go into a little bit more detail, I guess, of what this means for Australians

02:55in Iran now.

02:56Well, anybody inside Iran now won't have consular access from the Australian government, so

03:01they will need to seek consular access.

03:04Presumably, there will be some arrangement will be made with a different embassy, but

03:08there won't be Australian representation on the ground.

03:10And that's a big deal.

03:11That's a big loss to Australians inside Iran.

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