The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, they're a little bit like a nation within a nation. They've got their own army, police force, navy even I think. They don't actually really respond to the most of the government in Iran. That's the part of the regime that Australia's spies are saying, through criminals, directed the attack on at least the kosher restaurant in Sydney, that's off Old South Head Road in Bondi, and this synagogue in Melbourne, the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, which is just off Glen Eira Road, right next to Ripponlea train station. That shocking news, the PM was part of that announcement and I had a chat to him just a few moments ago.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Raf. Good to be with you.
EPSTEIN: PM, why do you think Iran did this?
PRIME MINISTER: There are two motivations, clearly antisemitism, that's very much a part of the ideology of the leadership of Iran. But secondly also, it's clearly aimed at disharmony in Australia. It's an attack on our social fabric and on who we are. And so it's very clear from the advice that we received from ASIO that both the Lewis' Continental Kitchen in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue there in Melbourne were arisen from Iran, from the Iran Revolutionary Guard. And that is them working in concert with criminal elements both overseas and here domestically.
EPSTEIN: Is it an intelligence failure?
PRIME MINISTER: No, in fact this is a rather extraordinary intelligence success by ASIO and the Australian Federal Police. In today's world, where things are often done on the dark web and where you have encrypted messages, cryptocurrency transfers - you have a complex situation here. And it's an extraordinary effort by ASIO and the AFP to be able to trace the chain of command, if you like, right back to the IRGC, through to the people who perpetrated these criminal acts.
EPSTEIN: And what's your best explanation of how they did this?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, because there are other ongoing investigations into other incidents as well, I'm reluctant to go into too much detail about how that occurred. But what the intelligence agencies and the AFP have been able to do is to trace the connections between people and how it occurred from overseas right through to Australia, using criminal elements here in Australia to engage in what is an incredibly dangerous act of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil.
EPSTEIN: The PM, Anthony Albanese is with us. I know your time is short and so is ours. What's happening in north east Victoria right now? Did the government take seriously enough the threat of sovereign citizens?
PRIME MINISTER: We certainly do, and Mike Burgess, the Director-General of ASIO has been warning about far right extremism. We have seen that spread and it is difficult to defend against individuals - we know that that is the case. And this person, Dezi Freeman, who remains on the run is the latest advice that we have received, has engaged in an attack in which two police officers have lost their lives, a third has been seriously injured. And my heart goes out to the family and friends of those directly affected but also to the police family in Victoria.
EPSTEIN: Thank you for your time, PM. Appreciate it.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Raf.
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