Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is taking advice on whether to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity, following Australia's decision to do the same.
But Luxon is less certain on whether New Zealand will follow Australia in expelling Iran's ambassador.
On Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed he was expelling the Iranian ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi.
The Australian government said Iran was behind the fire attacks at Lewis' Continental Kitchen, a fast-food restaurant in Sydney in October, and at Melbourne's Adass Synagogue in December.
It is the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador in the post-war period.
Australia will also legislate to designate Iran's revolutionary guard as a terrorist organisation.
Iran has denied the allegations.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the government has condemned Iran's attacks in Australia. Photo: AFP / NurPhoto /Jakub Porzycki
On Friday, Luxon condemned the attacks.
"We condemn outright what we have seen in Australia. The fact that Iran as a foreign power has orchestrated antisemitic attacks within a domestic environment of Australia is utterly unacceptable and abominable," he said.
Luxon said officials have also had a "pretty direct, pretty straightforward" conversation with the Iranian ambassador to New Zealand, Reza Nazar Ahari, to criticise the attacks.
Luxon cites need for dialogue
However, the question of whether to follow Australia's lead in expelling the ambassador was complex, as it was useful to keep those channels of dialogue open.
New Zealand has also resisted pressure to expel ambassadors from Russia and Israel, citing the need for dialogue.
"It's not something that's done very lightly, because you want to be able to maintain avenues of dialogue, and we've actually condemned the actions of Iran and we've conveyed that very strongly to the Iranian ambassador here in New Zealand yesterday," Luxon said.
Australia is New Zealand's only formal ally, but Luxon said New Zealand did not need Australia's input on the matter, as the two countries were "intuitively" aligned.
He said the question of designating the IRGC as a terrorist entity was a complex process, but he has asked for advice.
"It's actually quite complicated, as you see, the Australians actually having to go through a legislative process to make it a reality."
In New Zealand the decision on whether to designate an entity as a terrorist organisation rests with the Prime Minister of the day.
For example, shortly before the election in October 2023, Chris Hipkins sought advice on designating Hamas as a terrorist entity, which Luxon then acted on in February 2024.
"It's quite complex, actually going through a process of terrorist designation, so we'll take advice on all of that, and those are things that we'll work through," Luxon said.
The Australian embassy in Tehran has now suspended its operations, and moved all diplomatic staff to another country.
New Zealand shares a building with Australia in Tehran.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said New Zealand's embassy in Tehran remained open.
Luxon said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade would be working through any risk analysis for diplomatic staff in Iran.
