How Iran Subcontracts Assassinations Across Europe

[Social Media]

 

Alejo Vidal-Quadras was walking home from Madrid’s Retiro Park when a hitman approached him from behind, quietly greeted him with “Hello, sir,” and pulled the trigger. The bullet was aimed at his neck, but a sudden instinctive movement saved his life. “But it went in here,” Vidal-Quadras recalled, pointing to one side of his jaw. “And it came out there,” he added, indicating the opposite side.

 

Vidal-Quadras, 80, is no ordinary target. The former vice-president of the European Parliament and founder of Spain’s populist Vox movement believes the attack was not a random act of violence but part of a calculated effort by the Iranian regime to eliminate its critics. “The Iranian regime is paying criminal networks to carry out attacks,” he said before addressing members of the French Parliament in Paris. “They are recruiting mafia organisations to do their work for them.”

 

 

The attempted assassination in November 2023 was orchestrated by Tehran and executed by the Mocro Mafia—a Dutch drug cartel known for its brutal efficiency. Vidal-Quadras claims the regime's use of criminal gangs is tactical, relying on their interest in profit over ideology. “They are professional criminals. It is just another job to them.”

 

The case has led to multiple arrests, including that of Mehrez Ayari, a 38-year-old French-Tunisian with a criminal history stretching from drug trafficking to armed robbery. French newspaper Le Monde reports that Ayari is also implicated in the “sunflower case”—the murder of a minor drug dealer in northern France in 2022. Investigators found incriminating messages on his brother’s phone, including one referencing a gun pickup in Rotterdam and another featuring a video of Vidal-Quadras.

 

Ayari was arrested in Haarlem, Netherlands, in 2024 while allegedly preparing to target another Iranian regime opponent. Dutch intelligence services concluded in their April report that both this plot and the attack on Vidal-Quadras align with a broader pattern of Tehran outsourcing violence. “Based on intelligence, it is likely that Iran is responsible for the two assassination attempts,” the report stated.

 

Iran has dismissed these allegations as “an absurd fabrication,” and Ayari’s lawyer maintains there is “not a single piece of evidence” linking his client to Tehran.

 

Meanwhile, Dutch authorities have issued a €50,000 reward for the capture of Sami Bekal Bounouare, a 27-year-old Spanish-Moroccan suspected of orchestrating the attack on Vidal-Quadras. Bounouare is also wanted for the attempted murder of the Iranian activist in Haarlem and a 2021 contract killing of a DJ of Iraqi origin in the Netherlands. Fluent in five languages and last known to reside in Rotterdam, he fled Spain the day before Vidal-Quadras was shot.

 

International intelligence agencies have noted similar patterns. Both Mossad and Sweden’s security service have pointed to Iranian involvement in recruiting criminal gangs for attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Europe. The FBI in the U.S. has observed Tehran employing the same strategies.

 

Vidal-Quadras believes his outspoken support for the National Council of Resistance of Iran and his placement on Tehran’s 2022 sanctions blacklist made him a prime target. The physical wounds have mostly healed after seven months of recovery and facial reconstruction surgery, but the emotional scars remain. “The psychological aspect is terrible but with medical help and help from my family, I am well now,” he said.

 

He condemns Iran’s use of what he calls “state terrorism,” including hostage-taking and nuclear threats, as a strategy to pressure Western governments. And yet, he remains dismayed by what he perceives as Spain’s passive response. “There has been no diplomatic or political reaction,” he said. “The government has not opened its mouth.”

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Times  2025-05-29

 

 

[koolkarl]

The world would be a much safer place without this country.  

[AustinRacing]

Some countries do the assassinations themselves like mosad, saudis and cia while others contract them out. Nothing new or unusual here. 

[sharksy]

15 hours ago, koolkarl said:

The world would be a much safer place without this country.  

Totally Agree.  Add Israel to that too.

[Tug]

19 hours ago, koolkarl said:

The world would be a much safer place without this country.  

I beg to differ the Iranian culture has much to offer and they have contributed much to the world…..now if you said the world would be a safer place without their current government and if they toned down their religious racism I’d definitely agree.I know no chance oh well sad .

[koolkarl]

4 hours ago, Tug said:

I beg to differ the Iranian culture has much to offer and they have contributed much to the world…..now if you said the world would be a safer place without their current government and if they toned down their religious racism I’d definitely agree.I know no chance oh well sad .

Read the koran.  You are on the list too.

[Tug]

2 minutes ago, koolkarl said:

Read the koran.  You are on the list too.

I agree their religion sucks!

[ericbj]

On 5/29/2025 at 8:09 AM, koolkarl said:

The world would be a much safer place without this country.  

Iran is involved in conflicts in its neighbourhood.  But it did not initiate them.

 

There are countries that ramp up tensions all over the world in order to create conflict and further the interests of their financial elites.  They call this supporting democracy and human rights.

 

Iran once upon a time was a democracy.  But it had a socialist government.  Unacceptable to outside business interests.  So it was overthrown and replaced by a repressive dictatorship to the liking of the foreign interests.

 

But this was eventually overthrown by a theocratic nationalistic dictatorship, unyielding to foreign dictates;  and ready to screw up their interference in the region.

[spidermike007]

22 hours ago, AustinRacing said:

Some countries do the assassinations themselves like mosad, saudis and cia while others contract them out. Nothing new or unusual here. 

 

22 hours ago, AustinRacing said:

Some countries do the assassinations themselves like mosad, saudis and cia while others contract them out. Nothing new or unusual here. 

They seem to be killing the wrong people. I can think of 100 who desperately need a bullet in the brain. 

[spidermike007]

Well perhaps we should turn the tide and go after the Ayatollah and his top cronies, they're not really serving any useful purpose are they? 

[koolkarl]

6 hours ago, Tug said:

I agree their religion sucks!

A lot more than sucks.  They want to commit the ultimate genocide.

[Tug]

5 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Well perhaps we should turn the tide and go after the Ayatollah and his top cronies, they're not really serving any useful purpose are they? 

That would certainly be doing the Iranian people a big favor and us as well!