A TOP politician who narrowly survived an assassination attempt he believes was ordered by the Iranian regime has warned there’ll be more attacks in the West.
Dr Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca was shot in the face outside his apartment building in Madrid, Spain, last November by a hitman on a motorcycle.
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In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Vidal-Quadras declared he was the Iranian regime’s “Public Enemy No. 1”.
He accused Tehran of orchestrating the attempt on his life – which left his jaw shattered and requiring reconstructive surgery using metal plates.
The politician was walking up to his front door when he heard someone say “hello sir” behind him – before he was shot.
And he warned that he and other political figures in the West could be targeted again.
The former vice-president of the European Parliament accused the Iranian regime of working with organised criminal gangs in Europe to carry out his attack – which he miraculously survived after being rushed to hospital for emergency surgery.
He has strongly urged governments in the West to increase political, economic and diplomatic pressures on what he called a “poisonous, terrorist regime” in Iran.
The Barcelona-born politician has called on governments in the UK, USA and the European Union to cut all diplomatic ties with Iran.
And he urged them to immediately declare the regime’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation – or risk further attacks on the West and “war-mongering” in the Middle East.
Speaking during a visit to London today to attend an event held by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), for which he was provided a heavy security detail by the British government, Vidal-Quadras described the day of the assassination attempt on November 9, 2023.
“I was doing my in the park close to my home and when I went back home I was 20 or 30 metres from the entrance to the apartment building where I live, and this hitman came from my back and said to me in Spanish, ‘Hello Sir’,” he said.
“He was very close to me – so I turned my head in an angle and that is what saved my life because the shot that should have gone to my neck – which is lethal – went to my jaw.
“He escaped on a motorbike. There was a lot of people around me because this day in Madrid was a holiday. I was in a state of shock and I was bleeding very heavily.
“A gentleman who was near took out his jacket and put it around my neck to stop the bleeding.”
I imagine for the rest of my life, which I hope to be long, I will live with this Damocles sword hanging over me
Dr Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca
He went on: “My jaw was destroyed and I had to have metal plates put inside.
“I was in hospital for 16 days and then home hospitalisation and physical rehabilitation because after such a long stay in hospital I could not walk.”
It’s taken the brave politician – who has been a long-time supporter of the NCRI, a political group calling for regime change in Iran – six months to recover – but he said he was left with serious psychical and psychological injuries.
“The worst part to be frank was the psychological part because after this attack I was in a state of post traumatic shock,” he said.
“Then I was in a state of anguish and depression and anxiety, it was terrible.
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“I needed medical attention for that and I’m still taking medication but with the help of my family, my good friends in the Iranian resistance [NCRI] and good doctors I am almost recovered.
“The doctors said it was a miracle that I survived.”
The attack is still being investigated by Spanish authorities – and although court proceedings are being held behind closed doors – it has been widely reported in Spanish media that authorities are investigating Iranian links to the attack.
“I have no doubt this attack was organised and financed by the Iranian Ayahtollahs’ regime,” Vidal-Quadras said.
“They have killed many many people outside of Iran in the last 30 to 40 years. They are a terrorist regime and have killed many Iranian opponents abroad.
“In the past they did it themselves – the Revolutionary Guards or agents from the Ministry of Intelligence. For instance, the very famous assassination of Professor Kazem Rajavi in Geneva in 1990 was carried out by a commando of about a dozen agents, they ambushed his car and machine gunned him down.
“But in 1992 when there was attack in Berlin against Iranian Kurdish dissidents and there was such a reaction from the West in terms of sanctions and diplomatic relations being cancelled – that they changed method.
“Now they do not don’t do it themselves, they hire mafias and criminal gangs.
“My case is being heard by the National Spanish Court, which deals with terrorism and serious crime, but the judge in the case has decided that the hearing will be held in secret so I all I know is what I read in the media in Spain.
“If you ask me if there is now a real risk of other people being attacked by the regime among European or Western politicians or dignitaries, yes, my answer is yes.
Dr Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca
“According to the media in Spain it was a mafia that was established in the Netherlands called Mocro Mafia, which was paid by the Iranian regime [who were behind the attack].”
There have been several arrests in relation to the attack – including a Dutch woman of Moroccan origin who was believed to have followed Vidal-Quadras for some time before the shooting, a Spanish national and a Venezuelan national.
Vidal-Quadras said he believes the risk of further attack from the Iranian regime remains high, and believes he or other political leaders in the West could be targeted – as they have been in the past.
He cited the 2021 FBI foiled plot to kill former US National Security Advisor John Bolton, which was alleged to be orchestrated by Tehran, and a 2018 Iranian plot to bomb a NCRI meeting in France.
“Unfortunately this is a terrorist regime and there are many, many assassinations they have organised in the past…,” he said.
Who is Dr Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca
DR ALEJO Vidal-Quadras Roca is a Spanish politician who was the target of an attempted assassination in Calle de Nunez de Balboa, Madrid, on November 9 2023.
The attempt is being investigated as a potential terrorist attack.
He was president of Spain’s right-wing People’s Party of Catalonia from 1991 to 1996, Senator and chairman of the Education and Culture Committee at the Spanish Senate and vice-president of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2014. He left the People’s Party of Catalonia in 2014 to join a new party called Vox.
Vidal-Quadras is also a university lecturer and columnist for Spanish newspaper Voz Populi.
He has been a long supporter of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI-MEK), Iranian political organisations, which are calling for the Islamic Republic of Iran to be overthrown.
It was reported in 2013, that Vox received donations of 1 million euros from 35 Iranians affiliated with the NCRI, by Spanish newspaper El Pais. Vidal-Quadras said the donations were made to him, not the party.
He also founded the International Committee In Search of Justice, a Brussels-based lobby-group which supports the NCRI.
In 2023, Vidal-Quadras support of Iranian resistance groups prompted the Iran Foreign Ministry to announce sanctions against him, accusing him of “supporting terrorism and terrorist groups”. He was one of the first politicians blacklisted by Iran for his support of opposition groups.
“Of course the risk of further attacks against me is very real. They must be very disappointed that I survived and I am in good health.
“I will continue with my political support to the Iranian resistance with the same dedication and enthusiasm as before so they must be very frustrated.
“I am classed in Europe as a protected person of high risk. I always have a dedicated security team wherever I travel. Now I am in the UK and I must thank the UK government because they have organised a very large, efficient and effective security detail for my visit.
“There is always a risk, I have no doubt if they can they will try again because this assassination attempt has been a great defeat for the Iranian regime.
“I imagine for the rest of my life, which I hope to be long, I will live with this Damocles sword hanging over me but I am very well protected now.
This regime is a criminal terrorist regime, they practice war-mongering and terrorism.
Dr Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca
“There is also wider threat to the West from the regime. A few years ago the regime published a list, a black list, of people and organisations they consider enemies.
“In the list of individuals I had the honour to be first. So I am Public Enemy Number One of the Ayatollahs, which is something I will put in my CV.
“The two organisations I was president of were also in the list. You might think, ‘Why did I not take more precautions?’ but probably I was too optimistic and I went on with my life and unfortunately they tried to kill me.
“If you ask me if there is now a real risk of other people being attacked by the regime among European or Western politicians or dignitaries, yes, my answer is yes.
“In this list I was the first, but there were many others in the West, including one or two British citizens. My advice to all the people in the list is to be very cautious and take measures to protect themselves because what happened to me could happen to them.”
‘COMPLETE FAILURE’
He is now urging the West to take a stronger stance against the current Iranian regime.
“For 30 years the West, Nato countries, Europe, UK, USA have implemented a policy of appeasement, dialogue, negotiation, concessions,” Vidal-Quadras said.
“This has been a complete failure. This regime is a criminal terrorist regime, they practice war-mongering and terrorism.
“We have a very tragic example recently. The attack of Hamas has triggered a war between Israel and Hamas, with tens of thousands of people dead, many of them civilians.
“This was of course done because Hamas is the employee, and the employer is the Iranian regime. They are financed and the revolutionary guards use Hamas to carry out their actions.
“What should be the policy of the West? Not appeasement, that has been counter-productive. The more you appease them, that emboldens them. They always see it as a weakness of the enemy. If you negotiate, make concessions they think ‘Ah that’s good – they are weak we will increase the pressure’.
“They have Hamas, Hezbollah, they have militias in Iraq, in Syria, in Yemen – they have a dense network of organisations that attack the West, and they feed them with training and finances.
“They are a permanent danger. The policy should be first strong diplomatic and political pressure.
‘ISOLATE THE REGIME’
“Why do we have embassies in Tehran? No, we should close all these embassies. Also we should send all the Iranian diplomats in the West back to Iran . They are terrorists – we should close them all.
“We must isolate this regime. The second thing we should place very strong economic sanctions on them. They will say ‘Oh but the Iranian people will suffer’.
“No, they suffer under the Ayatollahs. If we liberate them, their suffering will end.
“We must strangle the regime economically. The third part is to support politically and financially the Iranian resistance to help them change the regime and support to the Iranian people who are fighting this regime.
“The real turnout in the last legislative election for the Iranian parliament – was 8 percent. So who voted?… This regime has an opposition of 80-85 percent of the population at least.
“Why does it hold power? Because if you protest in Iran, you go to jail, you are tortured or you are hanged. You must be a hero to protest or oppose, you risk your life and the life of your family. Not only do they put you in jail and torture you, but your father, your mother, your brother.
“It’s really something incredible that we still have diplomatic relations with such a poisonous regime.”
He says designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as terrorists should be done “immediately”.
“This is what I recommend to the Western governments, this pressure will topple the regime,” he said.
“Unfortunately the Iranian people and resistance do not have real support from the West, that’s why the regime survives.
“They terrify their own population, they organise these war-mongering in the Middle East and they try to kill Western political figures who support the Iranian resistance like me or John Bolton. We in the West have not understood the nature of this regime.”
