April 16, 2024
Israel is urging Australia to designate Iran's 250,000-strong Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation as part of a package of "extreme measures" against Tehran following its unprecedented strike on the Jewish state on the weekend.
Israel's deputy ambassador to Australia, Chris Cantor, flagged the move as the Albanese government backed international calls for restraint by Israel to avoid allout war in the Middle East.
The government hauled in Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi on Monday to protest the country's strike on Israel with a barrage of more than 300 missiles and drones the first direct attack on the Jewish state by Tehran.
The projectiles were overwhelmingly intercepted by Israeli, US and British anti-air missiles, causing only minor damage to an Israeli air base, and wounding a seven-year-old Arab Bedouin girl.
As Israel considered its response to the attack, the Group of Seven major industrialised countries warned Iran's actions risked an "uncontrollable escalation".
"This must be avoided," the G7 said in a statement that was endorsed by Acting Foreign Minister Katie Gallagher.
"We will continue to work to stabilise the situation and avoid further escalation. In this spirit, we demand that Iran and its proxies cease their attacks, and we stand ready to take further measures now and in response to further destabilising initiatives." Mr Cantor said Israeli officials would hold talks with Australian counterparts in coming days, with designation of the IRGC as a terrorist group to "be part of the discussions", along with calls for more Australian sanctions on Iran. He said Iran's attack threatened to unleash a regional conflict, and "should be followed by extreme measures from the international community".
"The aim here is to minimise the Iranian threat," Mr Cantor said, pointing to Iran's "obsession" with destroying the state of Israel.
"You can only imagine what would have happened if Iran had nuclear weapons," he said.
Mr Cantor said Iran was the world's biggest sponsor of terrorism, backing Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels, among others.
Israel's representatives in the UK and Canada have urged similar action in recent days. The US designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organisation in 2019, but other major powers have so far resisted the step.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the Coalition had been calling for the IRGC to be designated a terrorist organisation for almost a year "because that's what they are".
"They are the principal state sponsor of terrorism across the Middle East. And we've seen again this weekend what a destabilising and destructive force they are, and they should be penalised for that," he said.
An Albanese government spokesman said Australia was already taking action against the IRGC, but did not specifically say why the group was yet to be designated as a terrorist threat.
"The IRGC has long been a threat to international security and the Albanese government is intent on making it face consequences for its actions," the spokesman said.
"That is why we are using the tools available to us to take meaningful action, including sanctioning 37 IRGC-linked officials and 44 IRGC-linked entities since September 2022." Anthony Albanese earlier called on Iran to cease behaving like a "rogue state", warning its escalation of the Israel-Hamas war represented "a grave threat to the security not just of Israel, but of the entire region" and "risked instability and devastation".
'You can only imagine what would have happened if Iran had nuclear weapons'
