Q A with Kylie Moore-Gilbert: this is why Iran is instigating terrorism in Australia

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called Iran’s involvement in at least two antisemitic attacks in Australia last year “extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression”. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said it “crossed a line”.

We asked Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a Middle East scholar who was imprisoned by Iran for more than two years on false charges of espionage, to explain what motivates Iran to conduct such attacks overseas and the tactics it uses.

What tactics has the IRGC used in the past?

Australia is not the only country where Iran is undertaking these activities. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is a violent, extremist organisation that’s been sponsoring terrorism for decades.

There have been plenty of reports of Iran or the IRGC using organised crime groups in the United Kingdom, the United States and continental Europe to carry out similar attacks and assassinate dissidents. We’ve seen attempted assassinations conducted by affiliates of the IRGC, as well.

In 2018, a diplomat in Iran’s embassy in Austria was caught after smuggling a bomb into Belgium that was to be used to attack a rally of Iranian dissidents in France. France said Iran’s intelligence ministry was behind the plot.

Iran has also been attacking Jewish targets in various countries, particularly since the October 7 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. But this goes all the way back to the 1990s with the bombing of a Jewish community centre in Argentina.

The fact these attacks have now arrived on Australia’s shores is what’s new, rather than the tactics themselves.

What is Iran seeking to achieve?

It’s difficult to say what Iran’s direct motivations are, other than to undermine Australia’s social cohesion.

The Iranian regime sees Jewish-Australians as a legitimate target. The IRGC is a very antisemitic group. Its members don’t distinguish between Jews and Israelis; in their minds they’re all one in the same. Jewish targets are Israeli targets, as far as they’re concerned.

Obviously, attacking sites inside Israel is much harder for the IRGC to do. It’s easier for them to come to a country like Australia, which is very open, and go after soft targets, such as innocent Australian-Jewish citizens just going about their business.

So, these attacks come out of a broader ideology the Iranian regime espouses – it is antisemitic, it views Israel as the country’s primary enemy, and it views Jewish people as an extension of Israel.

We’ve seen the IRGC employ both direct agents and people who are trained and affiliated to the group in Western countries, including in Australia. And we’ve also seen the IRGC use proxies like criminal elements or non-Iranian members of other terror organisations operating in Western countries to do their dirty work.

Iranian agents are also operating quite extensively online. They are some of the world’s top hackers and perpetrators of sophisticated cyber-ops, alongside the Russians and the Chinese, with entire factories of bots and troll farms at their disposal.

Iran has likely been active in online spaces in Australia, too, seeding antisemitism and sowing discord.

Along with members of the Iranian-Australian community, I have been warning about people who are informing or acting on the behalf of the IRGC or the Iranian regime here in Australia. Many of them are Iranian nationals who are here on visas. There have been allegations some members of the embassy staff have been surveilling the Iranian-Australian community, as well.

Read more: What is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or the IRGC?

Is there also a geopolitical element to all of this?

These attacks are also about projecting power and flexing muscles. Attacking Jewish communities in other countries is of concern to Israel; its government has spoken out about it on multiple occasions. Iran is sending a message to Israel that it can attack its co-religionists wherever they may be.

It’s also sending a message to countries like Australia – don’t mess with us, look at the capabilities we have.

Australia was, of course, very quick to align with the United States and other countries in supporting the US attack on the Iranian nuclear program in June.

So, even though Australia has had diplomatic relations with Iran for decades, the two countries are certainly no longer on particularly friendly terms.

What can the international community do?

Australia’s decision to list the IRGC as a terrorist group, joining the US and Canada, is long overdue. Now, our friends and allies who haven’t yet listed the IRGC should be encouraged to do so, as well.

The UK has indicated that it intends to take this step and the European Parliament voted in favour of doing so, as well. The main Iranian dissident group in New Zealand has just put out a statement calling for their government to consider adopting Australia’s approach, too.

But we also need to start rooting out Iranian elements within our own borders. There are reports of IRGC operatives present in Australia, in addition to informers and other sympathisers who send information back to Tehran but might not be paid-up, trained agents.

The government needs to take seriously the reports of those in the Iranian-Australian community expressing concern about these individuals – whose identities are at times known – and begin cracking down on them.

Listing the IRGC as a terror organisation will give law enforcement more tools to prosecute these elements.

If an individual is working at the behest of a listed terror organisation, it’s much easier to charge them with various offences, compared to when the organisation still existed within a grey space of foreign interference.