Iran's ambassador, leaving Sydney after expulsion, decries 'lies'

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Iran ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi, arriving at Sydney Airport before an expulsion deadline, on Thursday rejected as "lies" Australia's accusation that Tehran had directed antisemitic arson attacks in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne, .

Australia gave Sadeghi 72 hours on Tuesday to leave the country, the nation's first expulsion of an ambassador since World War Two. Three other Iranian embassy officials were given seven days to leave.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was briefed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation on Monday on evidence of payments to criminals that he said linked two attacks, on a synagogue and a kosher restaurant, to offshore individuals and Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"These are all baseless allegations and lies," Sadeghi told reporters from local television networks Nine and Seven at Sydney Airport on Thursday evening.

Earlier in Canberra, Sadeghi came outside his residence to say goodbye.

"I love Australian people, bye bye," he said, waving to television cameras.

Australia has said it would designate Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, joining the United States and Canada, which already blacklist the IRGC.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney)

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