Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
Speaker 1: It's Tuesday October twenty eight, twenty twenty five. Secret squirdle
Speaker 1: anticks about the government's net zero goals with a fight
Speaker 1: between the Senate and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen's department.
Speaker 1: The bureaucrats will release a hefty brief about the plans,
Speaker 1: but it'll be heavily redacted. A memoir by former ABC
Speaker 1: chair itebytros goes deep on her adventures in the media,
Speaker 1: but iters skipped the most embarrassing chapter of all, the
Speaker 1: matter of sacked radio presenter Antoinette Latoufe, which costs the
Speaker 1: ABC a heavy penalty and a heavy dose of public humiliation.
Speaker 1: So what is in items book? Literary editor Caroline Overington
Speaker 1: has all the details right now at the Australian dot
Speaker 1: com dot AU. A grainy photo of a dapper looking gentleman.
Speaker 1: Is this the terrorist who's responsible for striking horror into
Speaker 1: Australia's Jewish community? Israeli's spy agency Mossad, says a senior
Speaker 1: officer in Iran's ultra elite Kudz force named Sadhah Ahmar
Speaker 1: is the mastermind of two attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.
Speaker 1: So what is Kuds Force and who is Suddha Amar?
Speaker 1: That's today's episode. In twenty twenty four, as Australia's Jewish
Speaker 1: community tried to grapple with a rise in anti Semitic
Speaker 1: graffiti and protests and the deplatforming of Jewish artists and creatives,
Speaker 1: things suddenly seemed to kick into another gear. Background. It
Speaker 1: was four o'clock this morning when Lewis's Continental Kitchen caught fire.
Speaker 1: This is on Kerl Lewis Street here in Bondi. Melbourne's
Speaker 1: Jewish community is in shock after a fire bomb attack
Speaker 1: on one of australias busiest synagogues.
Speaker 2: Worshipers reigned for their lives as a sanctuary built by
Speaker 2: Holocaust survivors sixty years ago was destroyed.
Speaker 1: Serious frightening violence. A synagogue burned to the ground, a
Speaker 1: Jewish restaurant torch. In august Australia's security boss ASIO Director
Speaker 1: General Mike Burgess said they identified the Iranian state as
Speaker 1: being behind the attacks.
Speaker 2: There is an organized crime element offshore in this that
Speaker 2: that's not suggested organized crime are doing it. They're just
Speaker 2: using cutouts, including people who are criminal and members of
Speaker 2: organized crime gangs to do their bidding or direct their bidding.
Speaker 1: Now Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, has come up with
Speaker 1: a name. A senior officer of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Speaker 1: Corps the IIGC named Saddar amar Amar is high up.
Speaker 1: According to Mossad, he reports directly to Smail Kunney, the
Speaker 1: commander of the ultra elite KULDS force. That means he's
Speaker 1: just two steps down from Iran's supreme leader Ayatola Kmena.
Speaker 1: Cameron Stewart is the Australian's chief international correspondent. Cameron, what
Speaker 1: do we know about this man?
Speaker 3: Well, Claire, we don't know too much about him. We've
Speaker 3: certainly know what he looks like. He's got a black
Speaker 3: skivy and a lovely thorn coach. He looks like the
Speaker 3: essence of a Middle Eastern gentleman. According to the photograph
Speaker 3: that Mosad released, his name is Saddar Ahmah and he
Speaker 3: is the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps KOD's force.
Speaker 3: But Mossad, when they made this very unusual statement revealing
Speaker 3: this man to be the leader of this sole operation,
Speaker 3: did not give any further information about Sadda Ama, So
Speaker 3: all we really know is that picture of him and
Speaker 3: his name.
Speaker 1: Everything Mosad does, of course is calculated, and presumably releasing
Speaker 1: his picture letting him know that they've identified him and
Speaker 1: outed him as a basically intelligence or to the world,
Speaker 1: is part of their tactic, right, that's right.
Speaker 3: I mean, they haven't said exactly why they're releasing it
Speaker 3: at this point, but they do make as part of
Speaker 3: their statement. Claire Moscat makes the point that the fighting
Speaker 3: of terror includes the knowledge that they're doing things like this,
Speaker 3: So what they're really saying is a statement public statement
Speaker 3: to the world, we know what you're doing Iran, we
Speaker 3: know you're doing this stuff. We're onto you. Don't be filled.
Speaker 3: And of course with Mossad, this is just one of
Speaker 3: many operations that they have done very successfully against Iran.
Speaker 3: They help destroy Hespala in Lebanon with the page of explosions,
Speaker 3: They've done target assassinations of nuclear scientists and senior military
Speaker 3: leaders in Iran, and so this is yet another leg
Speaker 3: if you like, of Mossad's general operations against Iran worldwide.
Speaker 1: Iran has a defense force, the regular army, navy and
Speaker 1: air force. Then it has the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Core,
Speaker 1: a separate military organization that has its own ground, maritime,
Speaker 1: and air forces, plus an intelligence wing, a volunteer militia,
Speaker 1: and a media outlet. The IRGC's job is to run
Speaker 1: internal security and border security, the coast Guard, and so
Speaker 1: called resistance operations. Overseas and within the IRGC is the
Speaker 1: Kudz Force. It's a bit like the CIA an intelligence
Speaker 1: forward operation, with one main job to support Iran's interests
Speaker 1: in foreign countries. Kutz Force works directly without fits like
Speaker 1: Islamic Jihadan tamas Hesbalah, the Hoofi's in Yemen, and pro
Speaker 1: Iran militias in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Kutz Force
Speaker 1: is ultra powerful because it reports directly to Ayatola Kamana,
Speaker 1: and its very name is a statement of intent. Al
Speaker 1: Kudz is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, which is claimed
Speaker 1: by both Israel and the Palestinian authority as their capital.
Speaker 1: The Iranian security structure seems to be like layers of
Speaker 1: an onion. On the outside, of course, you have the
Speaker 1: Iranian state, then you've got the Iranian military them Islamic
Speaker 1: Revolutionary Guard Core, going deeper and deeper than Kuds Force.
Speaker 1: Within that and the brigade that this man is alleged
Speaker 1: to be the leader of is something called the eleven
Speaker 1: thousand brigade. Do we know anything about what that is?
Speaker 1: Within the IGC and within Kuds.
Speaker 3: Force, they are hugely powerful and they are the biggest
Speaker 3: non military weapon if you like that Iran has worldwide
Speaker 3: when it tries to export terror, to export its own
Speaker 3: brand of Shiat Muslim theology, and also to try and
Speaker 3: since October seven, twenty twenty three, of course, to really
Speaker 3: ramp up anti Semitic attacks, attacks on Jewish institutions and
Speaker 3: people in the Western world.
Speaker 1: When these attacks happened cam the Adas Israel Synagogue was
Speaker 1: I suppose a success for fire bombing. The synagogue burned
Speaker 1: to the ground and the community was successfully terrorized. The
Speaker 1: attack in Sydney on Lewis's Continental Kitchen seemed to be bungled.
Speaker 1: They first allegedly hit another location that had a similar name,
Speaker 1: then they got this restaurant, but didn't really achieve very much.
Speaker 1: Allegations before the court suggest that the people who were
Speaker 1: actually carrying out these attacks, according to police, were not
Speaker 1: really you know, we're not talking about James bond here.
Speaker 1: What does it say do you think about the Iranian
Speaker 1: operation allegedly that they were using people who are not
Speaker 1: superspies or ultra criminals.
Speaker 3: Look, that's right. I mean, if you're going to recruit
Speaker 3: local criminals, then you always have the risk of recruiting
Speaker 3: dodos and that does seem to be what they've done here,
Speaker 3: you know, And so it's one of the weaknesses really,
Speaker 3: I mean, the Iranians haven't really succeeded in doing an
Speaker 3: awful lot with this program in lots of ways. I mean, thankfully,
Speaker 3: you know, we haven't had lives lost in Australia or
Speaker 3: in fact in the other andries where they're accused of
Speaker 3: doing this as yet. So look, I think there are
Speaker 3: a bit Keystone cops in the way they go about it.
Speaker 3: But nonetheless, you know, it's still extremely there is certainly
Speaker 3: the far bombing of the synagogue in Melbourne absolutely has
Speaker 3: broken the heart of the local Jewish community. That really
Speaker 3: shocked all of Australia. That crime, and in fact that's
Speaker 3: really the crime I think that made the Abanese government
Speaker 3: really wake up when it came to anti Semitism. Before that,
Speaker 3: I think they're being a bit sleepy about the issue
Speaker 3: in Australia, but that crime backed by Iran, back both
Speaker 3: with this man so Amah, really woke the government up
Speaker 3: to anti Semitism in Australia.
Speaker 1: Australian authorities were pretty circumspect and maybe even a little
Speaker 1: bit prickly about the suggestion that Mossad had given them
Speaker 1: this information back in August. Now it's Mossad who's front
Speaker 1: and center, posting on their own social media accounts a
Speaker 1: hierarchy and alleged hierarchy of Kuld's force showing Saddah Amah
Speaker 1: and of course this photograph of him in the skivi
Speaker 1: and the sports jacket. Is this a bit of a
Speaker 1: flex by Mossad too? Do you think CAM showing that
Speaker 1: in fact they are the source of all this information
Speaker 1: and they're the ones who are attempting to bring down
Speaker 1: Quids thoughts.
Speaker 3: I think the Mossad, the revelations by Mossad are a
Speaker 3: broader slap across the face to the Iranian regime. I
Speaker 3: don't think Australia figuresn't that at all. The ASIO discovery,
Speaker 3: if you like, of Iran being behind these attacks in
Speaker 3: Australia was very much an ASIO operation. My understanding is
Speaker 3: not true that Mossad handed them that investigation on a
Speaker 3: plate at all. ASIO did it themselves. Where Mossad has
Speaker 3: been useful for RASIO is of course identifying various people
Speaker 3: within the organization. ASIO was aware of Sadarrama, for example.
Speaker 3: But they certainly AZIO was the agency that uncovered the
Speaker 3: Iranian links in Australia, not Mossad coming up.
Speaker 1: So what about all the other anti Semitic attacks? That's
Speaker 1: after the break, So cam I think our audience could
Speaker 1: be forgiven for being a little bit confused, and I
Speaker 1: certainly am about which attacks on Australia's Jewish community were
Speaker 1: allegedly done by whom. The most famous one, of course,
Speaker 1: is the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives in
Speaker 1: Dural in Sydney. There were fire bombings of private homes,
Speaker 1: including the former home of Jewish Community leader Alex Rifchin.
Speaker 1: What don't we know about what else the IIGC is
Speaker 1: alleged to have been up to. And are we any
Speaker 1: closer to having answers about who masterminded those most prominent
Speaker 1: kind of attacks on the Jewish community.
Speaker 3: We're not Claire, certainly. All we know at the moment
Speaker 3: is that Iran was certainly behind the synagogue bombing and
Speaker 3: the restaurant attack in Sydney. Mike Burgess said that they're
Speaker 3: looking at several other incidents in Australia, so that suggests
Speaker 3: there could be or are suspected to be more, but
Speaker 3: we just don't know definitively. And of course a lot
Speaker 3: of the antisemitism has been generated within the local community
Speaker 3: by other Australians and so other attacks that we've seen
Speaker 3: will have been conducted by astrands without any ordering from
Speaker 3: other countries like Iran.
Speaker 1: Just finally, cam the overseas proxies supported by Kud's force
Speaker 1: have been seriously degraded. Since October seven, twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: Hesballa has been it would seem pretty comprehensibly dismantled, the
Speaker 1: hoofies have been under attack in Yemen, and of course
Speaker 1: Hamas has suffered some pretty serious setbacks in Gaza. What
Speaker 1: do you think we can say now about how much
Speaker 1: Iran has been put on the back foot or whether
Speaker 1: Iran is capable of regrouping and coming back stronger than ever.
Speaker 3: Well, Claire, Iran has been seriously diminished strategically in the
Speaker 3: past two years. You know, as you say, hespolar Is
Speaker 3: on its knees, Hamas Is on its knees. The Hooties
Speaker 3: are on their knees. And Aaran has been embarrassed militarily
Speaker 3: by the impotency of its attacks on Israel and the
Speaker 3: success of the US Israel attack on its nuclear facilities around.
Speaker 3: This is a much weaker country than it was. It's
Speaker 3: interesting that it's still promoting this overseas program of exporting
Speaker 3: terror because I think it can do that without being
Speaker 3: penalized in the military fashion.
Speaker 1: Cameron Stewart is The Australian's chief international correspondent. You can
Speaker 1: check out all our reporting on this story live now
Speaker 1: at the Australian dot com dot au