Former Iranian diplomat was granted asylum in Australia after defecting | Australia news
One of Iran’s former top diplomats in Australia has left the theocratic regime, a revelation that only came to light this week after six members of the Iranian women’s football team were given protection.
London-based news organization Iran International, which is not affiliated with the Islamic Republic regime, reported on friday Mohammad Pournajaf, Tehran’s chargé d’affaires in Canberra, has applied for asylum until at least 2023, he said. Another Iranian diplomat applied for asylum in Denmark, the publication reported.
Guardian Australia confirmed with a government source that Pournajaf has been in Australia since 2018 but did not seek protection until 2023. He has since been granted asylum.
Hosting the 44th anniversary of Iran’s Islamic revolution, Pournajaf remained the embassy’s chargé d’affaires until at least early 2023. was reportedly praised Regime successes.
Pournajaf had has been served before as Iran’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe and a representative To the United Nations.
The government source said the former diplomat’s departure was not related to the current conflict.
Iran’s most recent former ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi, was deported along with other diplomats and embassy staff in August last year after the Albanian government accused Tehran of being behind two anti-Semitic arson attacks.
Sadeghi denied allegations that his government was behind two anti-Semitic arson attacks in Australia, calling the accusations “baseless”. There were no accusations that current Iranian diplomats or embassy staff were involved.
Asio said it had “credible intelligence” that Iran’s paramilitary wing, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was behind two attacks in 2024, one on Lewis’s Continental Kitchen in Bondi and the other on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne. No one was injured in either attack.
Asio said the Revolutionary Guard had planned and financed the attacks through a number of intermediaries, including organized crime figures, but that Iran was “probably” behind more anti-Semitic attacks on Australian soil.
A total of seven members of Iran’s women’s football team were granted humanitarian visas in Australia but one changed her mind, home affairs minister Tony Burke confirmed on Thursday.
The group, who have been granted temporary humanitarian visas offering a route to permanent residence, have already been offered training at A-League Women’s club Brisbane Roar.
Agence France-Presse photos taken at Kuala Lumpur international airport showed the rest of the travel team arriving in Malaysia early Wednesday morning after flying from Sydney.
