Responding to a new and unprecedented Dutch intelligence report linking Tehran to assassination attempts on European soil against dissidents — including himself — the founder of Spain’s right-populist Vox Party warned that Iran’s regime is escalating its terror campaign abroad even as it weakens at home, urging the West to seize a rare opportunity to topple the regime by tightening sanctions and supporting the Iranian people and organized resistance.
During an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on Sunday, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, founder of Spain’s nationalist Vox Party, responded to revelations made public by the Netherlands’ intelligence services Thursday.
According to the Dutch intelligence and security agency, both the attempted assassination of Iranian journalist Siamak Tahmasb in the Netherlands and the 2023 shooting of Vidal-Quadras in Madrid were directed by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Dutch authorities apprehended the suspected assassin before he could kill Tahmasb, a prominent opponent of the Iranian regime, but Vidal-Quadras was less fortunate, surviving a gunshot to the face.
“Behind these two attacks by the same hitman is the Iranian regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran, which hires the services of mafias to eliminate their opponents in Europe or in the United States or wherever,” Vidal-Quadras stated.
Emphasizing the geopolitical implications, he noted this marks the first time a European national intelligence agency has openly and officially accused Tehran of orchestrating attacks on Western soil against critics of the regime.
The Dutch report underscores the Islamic Republic’s willingness to deploy violence abroad to silence dissent, extending its repression beyond the Middle East to Europe and potentially the United States.
“[This] proves that the Islamic Republic does not hesitate to try to kill Western political personalities, if they are critical of them or if they support the Iranian Resistance against the dictatorship,” he said. “So it’s a very interesting and revealing fact that the Dutch Intelligence Service has produced this statement.”
The revelations arrive at a critical moment, as the U.S. government, under the newly reinstated Trump administration, prepares to enter a technical phase of negotiations aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
When asked what message he would deliver to Washington, Vidal-Quadras issued a stark warning based on decades of failed diplomacy.
“Western governments have always tried to appease the regime with concessions, with negotiations, with agreements, to try to change their behavior and bring them to rational behavior — but all these negotiations have always failed,” he said, recalling repeated attempts by Western nations to moderate Tehran’s behavior through dialogue.
“The regime systematically cheated Western governments and used these negotiations to buy time to continue preparing nuclear weapons,” he added.
He further pointed to Iran’s consistent support for terror proxies such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, and its brutal record of human rights abuses, including the execution of 22 people in just three days last week.
“This regime is a killing machine,” he declared. “It is so criminal, so barbaric, that it defies belief a government like this can still exist — and even more astonishing that Western democracies continue to imagine any kind of understanding can be reached with it.”
He noted that the Islamic Republic has “never stopped backing terrorist militias across the Middle East — groups responsible for killing many Americans and hundreds of dissidents abroad — while the regime itself has executed tens of thousands inside Iran.”
Vidal-Quadras argued that “the only way to stop this regime” is through a policy of maximum pressure including severe sanctions, international isolation, prevention of nuclear weapon development, and robust support for the Iranian resistance movement “to topple this criminal regime and bring democracy to Iran.”
He praised the Trump administration’s realist approach to foreign policy and urged them to reject the failed strategies of past administrations.
“These negotiations will lead nowhere, serving only as a tool for the regime to deceive the United States once again while continuing its warmongering, nuclear ambitions, and terrorism,” he stated.
Vidal-Quadras highlighted a rare “window of opportunity” to empower the Iranian people and opposition forces inside and outside the country, citing the current weakening of Tehran’s regional terror proxies combined with growing domestic unrest as factors creating an unprecedented moment for change:
There is now a real window of opportunity, as the regime faces unprecedented weakness. Hamas and Hezbollah have been decimated by Israel after the vicious and inhuman October 7 attack, the Houthis are under heavy U.S. bombardment, and Assad’s regime in Syria has collapsed. Combined with growing unrest among the Iranian people, who are fed up with poverty and repression, the conditions are ripe to bring down the regime. Two forces can make it possible: the Iranian people, who are ready to rise, and the organized Iranian Resistance, led by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the MEK, a strong, disciplined movement with a clear plan for democratic transition.
The exiled opposition, led by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and its leader, Maryam Rajavi, has prepared a detailed “10-Point Plan” for the transition from dictatorship to democracy.
“The Iranian people are very close to rising up,” he stated, emphasizing that Iran’s society, unlike that of failed states elsewhere in the Middle East, is educated, mature, and prepared for a democratic transition.
Vidal-Quadras rejected claims that Iran would descend into chaos if the regime were toppled, asserting that “it’s only a question of political will” for Western nations to support a free Iran.
“This regime will never reform itself,” he concluded. “It will never agree to any rational understanding with the West. Its very nature makes change impossible — and we must seize this moment.”
The developments come as U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations continue, with Washington seeking to limit Tehran’s atomic ambitions.
Earlier this month, former Iranian diplomat Amir Mousavi admitted Iran is using negotiations with the United States as a tool to advance its interests while maintaining open hostility toward America and Israel — vowing that chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” would continue.
The interview underscored Tehran’s enduring strategy of using diplomacy to buy time while pursuing its ideological goals, posing a persistent challenge for American negotiators and allies.
Iran remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, funding proxy groups to fuel violence across the region. Domestically, under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the regime has intensified repression, executing more than 1,000 prisoners in 2024 alone.
Amid growing unrest, many Iranians have voiced support for President Trump’s hardline policies, viewing them as a path toward real change.
Meanwhile, Iranian threats have escalated. In recent months, the regime has intensified calls to assassinate President Trump, threatened American forces, and continued global plots targeting dissidents and U.S. officials.
President Trump has signaled openness to negotiations but warned that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons would permanently close its path back to the global stage — emphasizing a doctrine of peace through strength and an unyielding opposition to nuclear proliferation by terror-linked regimes.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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