Less than an hour before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese went public with one of the most dramatic and significant diplomatic moves in memory, Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi was handed a letter. Persona non grata.
Sadeghi had been summoned by DFAT secretary Jan Adams for, in modern Australian history at least, an unprecedented conversation.
He was being expelled from the country after the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation concluded Tehran had directed several attacks on Jewish targets in Australia's two largest cities.
“The information that ASIO has determined is quite shocking,” Albanese told a sombre Parliament later on Tuesday.
