When the Iranian foreign ministry took to social media on Sunday to offer condolences to Australia after a murderous terrorist attack on a Jewish celebration in Sydney, the words were smooth, solemn, and utterly devoid of credibility. “Terror and killing of human beings, wherever committed, is rejected and condemned,” declared spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. It was a statement that might have carried moral weight had it not come from the mouthpiece of one of the world’s most prolific sponsors of terror, anti-semitic violence, and political murder.
Sixteen innocent people were killed in Sydney simply because they were Jewish. The atrocity shocked Australians and horrified decent people everywhere. Yet Tehran’s sudden concern for Jewish lives is breathtaking in its hypocrisy. The Islamic Republic has spent more than four decades demonizing Jews, denying the Holocaust, and exporting violence against Jewish targets across the globe. For such a regime to posture as a defender of humanity is not merely cynical, it is obscene.
Iran’s ruling theocracy was born in blood in 1979 and has never ceased to glorify violence. Inside Iran, the regime has executed, tortured, or disappeared tens of thousands of its own citizens. Jews, Christians, Baha’is, Sunnis, Kurds, and political dissidents have all felt the lash. The massacre of some 30,000 political prisoners in 1988, many of them supporters of the democratic opposition, remains one of the worst crimes against humanity of the late twentieth century. Not a single perpetrator has been held to account.
Beyond its borders, Tehran has refined terrorism into a tool of statecraft. From the bombing of the AMIA Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in July 1994, to attacks on synagogues, embassies, tourists, and dissidents in Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America, the fingerprints of the Iranian regime and its proxies are unmistakable. Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and a constellation of militias from Lebanon to Yemen all draw funding, weapons, and ideological guidance from Tehran. Jewish communities have repeatedly been in the crosshairs.
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Australia is not immune from this reality. In 2024, a series of arson attacks targeted a kosher restaurant in Sydney and a synagogue in Melbourne. Thankfully, there were no casualties, but the message was unmistakable: intimidation, fear, and hatred directed at Jewish Australians. These were not isolated acts of vandalism; they occurred against the backdrop of Iran’s relentless incitement against Jews and Israel, amplified through proxy networks and online propaganda.
Canberra’s response was firm and overdue. The Australian government declared the Iranian ambassador persona non grata, expelled several Iranian diplomats, recalled its own ambassador from Tehran, and suspended embassy operations. In November, Australia went further, designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the regime’s praetorian guard and chief engine of terror, as a terror-sponsoring entity. Tehran predictably erupted in indignation, denouncing these steps as “insulting,” “unjustified,” and a violation of sovereignty.
This reaction tells us everything we need to know. The Iranian regime reserves the language of international law for moments when its own malign activities are challenged, while trampling those same norms whenever it suits its interests. It screams about sovereignty while arming militias that shred the sovereignty of Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. It condemns “terror and killing” on X while its Quds Force plots assassinations and supplies explosives.
Tehran’s feigned sympathy for Australia’s Jewish victims is part of a well-worn playbook: deny, deflect, and deceive. By issuing ritualistic condemnations, the regime hopes to launder its image, muddy the waters, and sow doubt among those unfamiliar with its record. But facts are stubborn things. A state that calls for the annihilation of Israel, hosts Holocaust-denial conferences, and celebrates suicide bombers does not suddenly discover a conscience when Jews are murdered abroad.
Australia deserves credit for recognizing this reality and acting accordingly. Too often, Western governments have indulged the fantasy that engagement alone can tame Tehran. Decades of appeasement have yielded nothing but emboldened aggression. The IRGC’s designation was not a provocation; it was an acknowledgement of truth. The Revolutionary Guard Corps is not a normal military institution; it is a transnational terror network embedded in the heart of the Iranian state.
The tragedy in Sydney should serve as a wake-up call far beyond Australia. Jewish communities across the democratic world are under threat from an axis of extremism that Iran leads, funds, and inspires. Empty condolences from Tehran do nothing to protect them. What does make a difference is clarity, resolve, and accountability.
If the Iranian regime truly rejected terror and the killing of human beings “wherever committed,” it would start by dismantling the IRGC, ending support for terrorist proxies, freeing political prisoners, and respecting the basic rights of its own people. Until then, every pious statement issued from Tehran is an insult to the victims and to our intelligence. Hypocrisy, when measured in blood, is still hypocrisy. And Iran’s hands are drenched in it.
The mullahs’ regime is on the brink. The countdown to collapse is real, and the cracks are widening. The pressure is mounting as the regime rots from within. The question is not if it will fall, it is when. The burgeoning Resistance Units inspired by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) are poised for a revolution that will overthrow the mullahs and restore freedom, justice, democracy, and human rights. Western nations must show their support for the Iranian people and for their right to rebel against tyranny.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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