Australia lists Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as state sponsor of terrorism

Australia on Thursday officially designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a state sponsor of terrorism after intelligence linked the group to attacks on Jewish centers in Sydney and Melbourne.

“The Government committed to taking this step following Australian Security Intelligence Organization‘s assessment that the IRGC had orchestrated attacks against Australia's Jewish Community,” the Canberra government said.

In August, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, flanked by Australia’s domestic spy chief, publicly said the IRGC orchestrated the arson attacks on the Lewis' Continental Kitchen in Sydney in October 2024 and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024.

Australian domestic spy agency Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) assessed that the IRGC used a “complex web of proxies” to carry out attacks on Australian soil.

“These cowardly attacks on Australian soil were designed to undermine and sow division in our multicultural society, by targeting Jewish Australians to inflict harm and stoke fear.”

The Australian government responded to the attacks by passing the Criminal Code Amendment (State Sponsors of Terrorism) Act 2025, which creates a new framework allowing the Government to respond to state-sponsored terrorism.

Under the new law, the government may designate a foreign state entity that “has engaged in, or otherwise supported or advocated for, the doing of terrorist acts targeted at Australia.”

The IRGC is the first listing of a state sponsor of terrorism under the new framework.

While the IRGC has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States since 2019, this is the first time Canberra is listing a foreign state entity under its federal terrorism framework.