A crime boss involved in Victoria’s tobacco conflict is believed to have collaborated with Iranian spies for the firebombing of a synagogue, which resulted in Australia ending diplomatic relations with the Islamic regime.
On Tuesday, Anthony Albanese stated that ASIO had uncovered Iran’s involvement in two ‘extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression’ on Australian soil: the Adass Israel Synagogue firebombing in Melbourne on December 6 of last year, and the arson at Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney’s Bondi Beach two months prior.
‘ASIO assesses it’s likely Iran directed further attacks as well. These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,’ the Prime Minister told reporters.
Albanese revealed that Iran’s ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, had been expelled, while operations at Australia’s embassy in Tehran had been suspended.
The government has also listed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.
Authorities now believe that illicit tobacco kingpin Kazem ‘Kaz’ Hamad was responsible for the synagogue firebombing to curry favor with the Iranian regime, as reported by Nine Newspapers.
Hamad, who was deported to Iraq in 2023 after serving an eight year sentence for drug trafficking.
Operating from abroad, he is suspected of benefiting from the illegal tobacco market in Victoria, allegedly orchestrating numerous firebombings and some gangland hits.
Authorities suspect illicit tobacco boss Kazem ‘Kaz’ Hamad (pictured, left), who was deported to Iraq in 2023 but still oversees operations in Australia, is behind the synagogue firebombing to gain favor with the Iranian regime.
Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne, was firebombed in December last year. Anthony Albanese revealed on Tuesday that Iran was behind the attack
The AFR reported that ASIO agents identified Hamad as a suspect in several anti-Semitic firebombings after the same stolen blue Volkswagen Golf was used in an arson attack and a shooting, both linked to the illegal tobacco trade.
It remains unclear how ASIO were able to determine that Hamad was acting on the orders of the IRGC.
‘ASIO is still investigating possible Iranian involvement in a number of other attacks, but I want to stress we do not believe the regime is responsible for every act of antisemitism in Australia,’ ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said on Tuesday.
‘It goes without saying that Iran’s actions are unacceptable. They put lives at risk, they terrified the community, and they tore at our social fabric.
‘Iran and its proxies literally and figuratively lit the matches and fanned the flames.’
Burgess explained that there isn’t a direct line between IRGC and those accused of carrying out the anti-Semitic attacks on Australian soil.
Instead, it operates like a ‘layer cake’ of intermediaries and cut-outs.
‘In between them, they tap into a number of people, agents of IRGC, and people that they know in the criminal world, and work through there, so it’s a series of chains,’ Burgess added.
‘They’re just using cut-outs, including people who are criminal and members of organised crime gangs to do their bidding or direct their bidding.’
The IRGC answers directly to the Supreme Leader and operates as both a military and political force.
ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess (pictured, left) said investigations are continuing into other possible Iranian-linked attacks in Australia
The group has been accused of sponsoring terrorism, running covert operations abroad, and using criminal networks to extend its reach.
‘The IRGC has form in conducting, going after dissent or anything they consider a threat to the regime in other countries,’ Albanese told reporters on Monday.
‘This is unique to Australia, having a crack at our social cohesion.’
But many, including the Opposition, criticised the government for taking so long to act on the threat posed by Iran.
But Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was detained in Iran for over 800 days on false charges of espionage, said it was ‘such a shame that it’s taken them so long’.
‘For years now, the Iranian-Australian community and other victims of the IRGC, including myself, have been literally screaming at rallies, to our local MPs, in parliamentary consultations, and in reports to the national security hotline that Iranian agents are operating brazenly and with few consequences here on Australian soil,’ she said in a statement shared on X.
