In a resounding confirmation of the Iranian regime’s global terrorism, Spain’s High Court has formally charged eight individuals with the attempted terrorist murder of Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a former Vice President of the European Parliament. The court’s official findings, released on July 9, 2025, explicitly link the brazen assassination attempt in Madrid on November 9, 2023, to Mr. Vidal-Quadras’s unwavering support for the Iranian Resistance.
This indictment is more than a legal proceeding against a criminal gang; it is a clear judicial validation of what the Iranian Resistance has warned about for decades. It exposes the Iranian regime’s systematic use of terror proxies on European soil to silence its most prominent international critics. This case serves as an urgent warning that policies of appeasement toward Tehran only embolden the world’s leading state sponsor of terror to bring its assassination campaigns to the streets of Europe.
The anatomy of a state-sponsored terror plot
The Spanish court document leaves no room for doubt about the nature of the operation. Investigating judge Santiago Pedraz described the suspects as part of a structured and hierarchical criminal cell with clear connections to the Iranian regime. This was not a random act of violence but a meticulously planned hit.
The international dimension of the plot underscores the regime’s direct involvement. The hitman, Mehrez Ayari, was later arrested in the Netherlands. Even more damning, the alleged coordinator and planner of the attack, Sami Bekal Bounouar, is reported to be hiding from justice in Iran, enjoying the sanctuary of the very state that ordered the attack. According to reports based on the investigation, the plotters spoke plainly about their objective before the attack, stating: “This is a mission to kill a politician.”
The motive: silencing support for the Iranian resistance
The Spanish investigation confirmed that the selection of the victim was no accident. The court concluded the plot had a clear objective to silence the voice of Vidal-Quadras due to his support for the opposition to the Tehran government. For over two decades, Mr. Vidal-Quadras has been a courageous supporter of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
Mr. Vidal-Quadras himself has pointed directly at the regime. He noted that in October 2022, his name was placed at the top of a regime blacklist, where he was declared an “enemy of the regime.” This was, in his words, “a completely clear way of saying that they had me in their sights.” The attack was a desperate attempt to punish him for his advocacy and to intimidate other international supporters of the PMOI and the cause of a free Iran.
A clear pattern of terror, not an isolated incident
The Madrid plot is not an isolated event but part of the same state-sanctioned policy of terror that the regime has exported for years. Dutch intelligence has also stated its suspicion that Tehran was behind assassination attempts in Europe. This case follows the same playbook used in the historic 2021 trial in Belgium, where an Iranian diplomat-terrorist, Assadollah Assadi, was convicted for plotting to bomb the Iranian Resistance’s annual Free Iran gathering near Paris. From Paris to Madrid, the regime’s terror machine operates with impunity, believing it is shielded by Europe’s willingness to engage in dialogue.
A call for firmness, not futile dialogue
The Spanish court has provided undeniable proof of the Iranian regime’s terror network targeting European citizens on European soil. The time for indecision and weak responses is over. As Mr. Vidal-Quadras stated upon hearing of the indictment, “I am very happy that the judge has produced this statement because that reflects the reality of the case. Let’s hope that now the government will take some action.”
His words must be a wake-up call. European leaders must abandon the failed policy of appeasement. It is time to hold the regime accountable by designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization in its entirety and closing the regime’s embassies, which have repeatedly been used as dens for espionage and terror. It is time to stand firmly with the Iranian people and their organized Resistance and recognize their right to resist and fight back against this regime, which has based its entire rule on terror and crime.