Ex-European parliament official shot last year says Iran leading assassinations plots worldwide

While U.S. investigators are unraveling an Iran-based plot to assassinate American politicians including perhaps former President Donald Trump, a former European parliament official and co-founder of Spain’s Vox party shot last year in what he says is an Iranian attempt on his life, used a rare public appearance Tuesday to harshly criticize the Iranian regime.

“My case is one among many,” Alejo Vidal-Quadras said at an International Committee in Search of Justice event in Brussels. “The Iranian ayatollahs have perpetrated their assassinations, kidnappings and bombings in five continents.”

North America is among them:

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Justice Department indicted Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national, with attempting to commit an act of terrorism and orchestrate a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate a politician or U.S. government official on U.S. soil. Trump was reportedly among the targets.

Court filings show Merchant spent time this past spring in Iran before arriving in the U.S. to try to carry out his eventually-foiled plot. 

“The Justice Department will not tolerate Iran’s efforts to target our country’s public officials and endanger our national security,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the indictment. “As these terrorism and murder for hire charges against Asif Merchant demonstrate, we will continue to hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against Americans.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray said during the Sept. 11 announcement that Merchant has "close ties to Iran" and that the plot was "straight out of the Iranian regime's playbook."

Four days later, Ryan Wesley Routh, was spotted hiding outside of Trump International Golf Club, in West Palm Beach, Florida, in an apparent attempt to assassinate Trump, now the 2024 GOP presidential nominee. 

He was arrested hours later, then charged with felony gun violations in connection with the incident. 

In a book Routh co-authored, he criticized Trump for undoing the Obama-era nuclear deal, writing, “Iran, I apologize. You are free to assassinate Trump.”

Federal investigators on Tuesday night charged Routh with attempted assassination but so far have not linked him to any plot associated with the Iranian regime or any other outside group. 

The alleged assassin attempt on Vidal-Quadras got farther than either Routh or Merchant. There have been multiple arrests in Europe and South America in connection with the high-profile shooting on the streets of Madrid. 

Vidal-Quadras said that a random glance just as the assassin was shooting meant the bullet fired shattered his jaw in two places but missed his neck. 

The 79-year-old Vidal-Quadras blames Iran. 

Authorities have not linked the shooting to Iran, But a year earlier, Vidal-Quadras was placed on a sanctions list in Iran due to his support for Iranian dissident organizations Mojahedin-e-Khalq, best known as MEK, and the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

It was at an NCRI-backed event from the International Committee in Search of Justice, an advocacy group and think tank where Vidal-Quadras is a board member, where he spoke Tuesday.

“I refer to the Islamic Republic of Iran as a terrorist state,” he said. “I am personally entitled to do so.”

The conference was held for the release of the ICSJ white paper entitled “Europe’s Failed Policy Towards Iran,” an analysis aimed at impacting European Union stance toward the Iranian regime by calling for an end to what is called “appeasement” policies.

“The west … has for far too long pursued a course of engagement with Tehran, rooted in the misguided belief that dialogue and concessions could moderate the mullahs’ menacing behavior,” the white paper stated. “Yet, this approach has not only failed to achieve its objectives but has, in fact, emboldened the regime.” The paper predicted that “resolute action, strategic pressure, and unwavering support” of Iranian resistance could lead to “the peaceful demise of the mullahs’ regime.”

Other speakers at the event included Struan Stevenson, a former member of the European Parliament from Scotland, and Paulo Casaca, a former member of the European Parliament from Portugal.