Sabra Lane: More details are emerging about an alleged Iranian official responsible for promoting anti-Semitic attacks in Australia. On the weekend, the Israeli spy agency Mossad named “Sardar Amar” as the man behind a brigade inside Iran’s Quds Force. The Australian government in August took the dramatic step of expelling the Iranian ambassador and it’s planning to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organisation. Nicole Johnston reports.
Nicole Johnston: Aram is an Australian from an Iranian background. His parents came to this country 40 years ago. And he says the Australian government’s decision in August to cut diplomatic ties with Iran shocked them.
Aram: My family had different kinds of emotions. I think all of them, right? It’s like confused, frustrated, annoyed, agitated. It just adds another layer of complexity to travel backwards and forwards and stuff. So I would say my family probably goes back. Any member of my family, maybe once a year, they go backwards and forwards.
Nicole Johnston: The Australian government expelled Iran’s ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, after ASIO revealed at least two attacks targeting Australia’s Jewish community had been directed by Iran but carried out by a third party. Now Israel’s spy agency Mossad has given more detail. It claims a man called Sardar Amar leads a unit inside the Quds Force, which directs foreign fighters to carry out attacks overseas in countries like Australia, Germany and Greece. Trita Parsi, an Iran analyst with the Quincy Institute, says despite the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June, Tehran’s elite forces can still strike abroad.
Trita Parsi: Iran as a whole has suffered some significant blows as a result of the defeat of Hezbollah by the Israelis, the collapse of the Assad regime, a certain weakening of many of their Iraqi militia allies. So overall in the region, the Iranians are in a much, much weaker position. But whether that translates into a direct specific weakening of the IRGC is a bit of a different story.
Nicole Johnston: The attacks in Australia last year linked to Iran were the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue and a restaurant in Sydney. But Mr Parsi says Iran doesn’t carry out as many overseas attacks as it used to, but it’s still strong.
Trita Parsi: If the Iranians now have reactivated that, you know, there’s accusations of that. I’ve not seen any clear cut cases. In Europe, for instance, it seems more that they are, or at least the accusation is that they are paying criminal gangs, motorcycle gangs, etc. rather than doing it themselves. You know, if this was 20 years ago, yes, they were actually quite active in many different theatres. But for the last two decades, they actually have not, not at all in the same way as they were before.
Nicole Johnston: Back in Australia, Aram says even though the Australian government has urged people not to travel to Iran, he says nothing can stop his parents.
Aram: All their siblings are getting a little bit older and everyone’s kind of making their final, you know, like they’re making the final leg, you know, of life. I don’t think anything’s going to stop them going backwards and forwards.
Sabra Lane: Australian Iranian Aram, ending that report by Nicole Johnston.