Police officers stand guard following the attack on a Jewish holiday celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Flavio Brancaleone
Israeli and Australian authorities have launched an investigation into whether Iran was behind the deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday that killed 15 people who attended the Jewish gathering and wounded at least 40 others.
As Australian authorities continued their probe into the weekend massacre at Bondi Beach in southeastern New South Wales, new evidence revealed that the deadly shooting was planned to include explosive devices that were successfully defused.
According to the British outlet The Telegraph, Israeli officials believe Iran orchestrated the attack, probing potential links to the regime’s terrorist proxies.
“We believe Iran is behind the attack. We are also investigating a connection with Hezbollah, Hamas, and a Pakistani terrorist organization,” an Israeli official told the paper, listing some of the Islamist groups backed by Tehran.
Israel had previously warned Australia about Iranian plots amid rising threats against Jews and Israelis abroad, and Israeli officials are now investigating whether Iran was the mastermind behind the mass shooting targeting Sydney’s Jewish community, Israeli media reported.
“In recent months, Iran has increased its activity to orchestrate attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,” a senior Israeli security official told Israel Hayom.
“There is no doubt that the direction and infrastructure for the [Bondi Beach] attack originated in Tehran,” he continued.
Israeli officials have accused the Australian government of ignoring earlier warnings and intelligence from this year that flagged potential terrorist attacks and rising threats, saying authorities failed to take sufficient action to protect the local Jewish community and prevent a massacre before what transpired in Sydney over the weekend.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of pouring “fuel on the antisemitic fire” and ignoring Israeli warnings, as tensions rise over Canberra’s anti-Israel stance and its failure to address a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks.
The Australian government’s policies, particularly its recognition of a Palestinian state in September, “pour fuel on the antisemitic fire, reward Hamas terror, embolden those who menace Australian Jews, and encourage the Jew hatred now stalking your streets,” the Israeli leader said.
“Antisemitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders stay silent. You must replace weakness with action,” he continued.
Albanese rejected such accusations, saying his priority was to unite the nation and prevent terrorists from sowing division or turning Australians against each other.
“Now more than ever, we must support the Jewish community during this incredibly difficult time — not just those grieving the loss of loved ones and friends, but all members of the Jewish community throughout Australia,” Albanese said.
According to Australian news outlet ABC, Naveed Akram, one of the terrorists allegedly behind the Sydney attack, was previously on the radar of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), which had been monitoring him for six years due to his links with an Islamic State (ISIS) cell in the country.
Amid already tense relations with Iran, Australia has not dismissed the possibility of Iranian involvement in the attack, with authorities reportedly working alongside Israeli intelligence agencies in their investigation.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei publicly condemned the “violent attack” in Sydney, though his statement was vague and made no mention of antisemitism, the local Jewish community, or any specific target.
“Terror violence and mass killing shall be condemned, wherever they’re committed,” he said in a post on X.
However, Iranian state and semi-official media pushed a starkly different narrative, spreading conspiracy theories that framed the attack as a plot orchestrated by Israel. Other outlets expressed support for the attack, even praising it, claiming that the rabbi who was killed during the massacre, Eli Schlanger, was a “staunch advocate of genocide in Gaza.”
The Iranian news agency Mehr openly called “the Zionist regime” the main suspect, portraying the attack as a “false flag” operation allegedly designed to serve Israeli interests.
Tensions between Australia and Iran have escalated sharply this year, after Canberra severed diplomatic relations with Tehran and expelled the Iranian ambassador in August, citing the regime’s role in threats and terrorist attacks against the local Jewish community.
The government identified the Islamist regime in Tehran as the mastermind behind at least two major antisemitic arson attacks in Australia, saying it was likely responsible for additional incidents.
In November, Australia officially designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a state-sponsored terrorist organization.