AUSTRALIA has expelled the Iranian ambassador and cut off diplomatic ties with the country, accusing it of involvement in anti-semitic arson attacks.

It is the first expulsion of a foreign ambassador from Australia since the second world war.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said today that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the domestic secret service, believed the Iranian government was behind arson attacks on a kosher food company in Sydney and a synagogue in Melbourne.

“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Mr Albanese said.

Evidence has not been disclosed, and the Iranian government did not immediately comment. It is unclear what motive Iran would have for the attacks.

Australia has previously accused foreign states of paying local criminals-for-hire to carry out attacks. On this occasion it says the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps was responsible, and will be outlawed as a terrorist organisation.