Anthony Albanese brushes off calls for him to expel Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi after ‘martyr’ claim

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has brushed off demands for him to expel Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi, after the diplomat described a slain terrorist leader as a “martyr”.

In a lengthy post on X on Sunday, Mr Sadeghi praised Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah — who was killed by an Israeli airstrike on the weekend — as a “blessed martyr” who had opposed the “vile entity of the Zionist regime”.

He described him as a “figure of greatness, a prominent flagbearer, and an unparalleled leader”.

It’s not the first time Mr Sadeghi has written incendiary social media posts, having previously referred to Israelis as a “Zionist plague” that needed to be “wiped out” which led to him being hauled in for a rebuke.

In response to his latest comments, Mr Sadeghi has been called in by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

But Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had demanded the Prime Minister take stronger action against Iran’s envoy.

“He’s been warned by the Government before, and the Prime Minister has to start showing some strength of leadership and some character here in standing up for what is right,” Mr Dutton said.

“The comments from the Iranian ambassador are completely and utterly at odds with what is in our country’s best interests, and the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister should show the strength of character and expel him from our country.”

Mr Albanese condemned Mr Sadeghi’s comments but dismissed calls for his expulsion, saying his Government had already taken the “strongest actions of any government” on Iran.

He said Australia had maintained a diplomatic relationship with Iran for decades because it was in the national interest, not because Australia endorsed the Iranian regime.

“We have put in place hundreds of sanctions against Iran and Iranian entities, which is in stark contrast to the fact that nothing happened over the nine years in which Peter Dutton was a minister in the former government where there were no sanctions, and silence about Iran... Iran of course has not just changed its ideology in the last couple of years,” Mr Albanese said.

The Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said the Government needed to not only expel Mr Sadeghi, but order Iran to send someone more respectful in his place.

“The Albanese Government should have the courage to declare him persona non grata, to send him packing his bags back to Tehran, to say to the Iranian Government that we still wish to keep our embassy there, and of course that they are free to send a new ambassador to Australia, but they ought to ensure they send someone who will respect Australia’s laws, Australia’s values and will not propagate or celebrate terrorism and divisiveness whilst in our country,” he told Sky News.