Spanish politician speaks out after prosecutors link Iran to his attempted assassination

It was the slightest turn of the head that saved the life of right-wing Spanish politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras, the former vice president of the European Parliament. “The hitman came from my back and shot me, but I did a last-minute turn of my head,” he tells The Independent, nearly three years after the shooting in Madrid on 9 November 2023. “The bullet, instead of going through the throat, which was his intention, went through my face and destroyed both sides of the jaw.”Now, following three years of investigation, Spanish prosecutors have directly linked the attempted assassination to the Iranian regime, as they seek up to 27 years in prison for the seven defendants in the case.The eighth defendant, Sami Bekal Bounouare, who allegedly coordinated the attack, is reported by Spanish outlet El Pais to have fled to Iran.Former leader of Spain's main right-wing political party in Catalonia and co-founder of far-right party Vox (AFP/Getty)“Iran has been involved in covert operations to persecute, intimidate, and even assassinate opponents, dissidents, and critical voices beyond its borders,” the prosecutors wrote in their sentencing request.It followed an assertion by investigating judge Santiago Pedraz last year that the attempted assassination was ordered by “unidentified individuals” seeking revenge for Vidal-Quadras' advocacy for resistance to Iran's clerical government.Vidal-Quadras, who is one of the co-founders of the far-right Vox party - before he left less than two years after its inception due to ideological differences - has been a long-term and ardent supporter of Iranian resistance groups. He played an instrumental role in removing Iranian opposition group the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) - who oppose the Iranian monarchists and Pahlavi family as well as the incumbent regime - from the EU’s list of terrorist organisations in January 2009.According to El Pais, 35 Iranian opposition figures linked to MEK had donated around one million euros to Vox in 2013, money that it said helped to pay for the set-up of the party that year. Vidal Quadras said the money was intended to fund him, rather than being a show of support for Vox’s domestic political agenda. Forensic police staff members investigate after former leader of the main Spanish right-wing party (Partido Popular - PP) Alejo Vidal Quadras has been shot and injured in the Nunez de Balboa street of Madrid (AFP/Getty)It was this close connection with Iranian resistance groups which saw the now-81-year-old placed on an Iranian sanctions list accusing him of terrorism in October 2022.“I was the first on this long list,” he says. “I was number one. So I, as you can understand, I was worried about that because the Iranian regime has killed many people outside Iran.”But, he alleges, the Spanish foreign ministry did not pay proper attention to him.“Of course I contact the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs,” he recalls. “‘Look, there is this list that has been made public by the Iranian regime, I'm worried about it’. They didn't consider it relevant. And one year later, I was shot.” The Independent has contacted the Spanish foreign ministry for comment.The shooting took place on 9 November 2023 (AFP/Getty)After the shooting, Vidal-Quadras was clear on who he believed was responsible. As he was rushed to hospital in the ambulance, drifting in and out of consciousness, he wrote down a single word on his phone. “I have a very confused memory of this time,” he says. “I was really very seriously wounded. I was not conscious all the time, but I have a memory, and the people in the ambulance told me afterwards that I wrote ‘Iran’ in the telephone.”After he was released from hospital following the shooting, he accused Iran of attempting “to eliminate me and to scare many political men and women and intellectuals and academics who supported the movement, the resistance, and Maryam Rajavi [president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran]”.Former US Vice President Mike Pence and Spanish right-wing politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras welcome on stage the president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran Maryam Rajavi (AFP/Getty)The Dutch intelligence agency said earlier in 2025 that it suspected Tehran of being behind two assassination attempts in Europe. The suspected hitman in the Vidal-Quadras case was arrested in Netherlands, where he was also linked to an assassination attempt on an Iranian resident.In its sentencing request, the prosecution included in its evidence what Vidal Quadras had written while on the way to Gregorio Marañón Hospital. Just five days after his release from hospital, the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency published a statement warning that countries hosting the MEK and other opposition groups would face consequences, the prosecutors’ submission said. Prosecutors said the warning was linked to the attempted assassination of Mr Vidal Quadras. Vidal-Quadras waves during a demonstration called by Foro Libertad y Alternativa (AFP/Getty)The Fars statement added: “The Spanish government would do better not to be an actor in an MEK scenario… Spain should know that hosting the MEK or allowing it to operate on its territory will have serious consequences for it.”The prosecution is seeking 27 years in prison for Mehrez Ayari, who was identified as the alleged shooter, 23 years for Naraya Gómez who allegedly surveilled Vidal-Quadras, 20 years for alleged accomplices Chahinez Kadid, Larbi Ayari, Greg Oliver Higuera, and Nafis Din Allouch Ahmed, and 10 years for Adrián Ruiz Blanco for allegedly helping to conceal evidence. Ms Rajavi wrote on X at the time that resistance groups saw “ruling religious fascism as the first suspect accused in this case, as Prof Vidal-Quadras has dedicated an important part of his life to fight against it”. Speaking to The Independent’s political editor David Maddox in 2024, Vidal-Quadras said he had issued a “simple message” to then-foreign secretary David Cameron to “end the appeasement” of the Iranian regime. And he reiterated that message two years later. “Years of negotiation, dialogue, and impeachment have not worked,” he says. “The result has been the opposite. The regime is more aggressive because they smell the weakness of of the of the enemy.”