Netherlands accuses Iran of targeting dissident on its soil
The Netherlands summoned Iran's envoy on Thursday after Dutch intelligence accused Tehran of an attempted assassination of an Iranian dissident in the country.
The Netherlands summoned Iran's envoy on Thursday after Dutch intelligence accused Tehran of an attempted assassination of an Iranian dissident in the country.
It is likely that Iran ordered the attempted assassination of an Iranian activist Siamak Tahmasbi in Haarlem, Netherlands, in the summer of 2023, the agency’s annual report on Thursday of the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) said.
An attempted assassination in Madrid of former Spanish lawmaker Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic, at the end of 2023 was also attributed to Iran, Dutch news outlet Nieuwsuur added citing the report.
"Iran used a tried and tested method in both cases: using criminal networks to silence opponents of the regime," Nieuwsuur's report said citing AIVD in reference to the alleged assassination attemp against Tahmasebi and Vidal-Quadras.
"This makes it difficult to prove under criminal law that the order actually came from Tehran," it added.
Last June, French daily Le Monde reported of the assassination attempt against Tahmasbi.
The report said that on June 6 2023, Tahmasebi noticed two men attempting to enter his home. Tahmasebi alerted the police, who arrived in time to arrest the armed intruders. The northern Netherlands prosecutor's office confirmed the arrests and the possession of firearms by the intruders.
One of the two suspects, Mehrez Ayari, is a 38-year-old Tunisian criminal from Villejuif, Val-de-Marne, France. Ayari had been sought by French police since August 2022 and is accused of murdering a cannabis dealer.
Nieuwsuur reported that the two detained were in contact by phone with a third man, who sent them instructions. The report added that the third person who allegedly directed them by telephone on behalf of Iran remains at large.
Rawa Majid received funds from Iran’s embassy in Denmark to help coordinate attacks against Israeli diplomatic facilities in Copenhagen and Stockholm, according to a source familiar with the matter inside the IRGC.
The source also said the gang leader travels between Iran and Afghanistan for operations overseen by the IRGC.
Majid leads a criminal group, Foxtrot, recently sanctioned by the UK and the US for its alleged role in orchestrating attacks on Israeli interests. Both governments accused the group of working as a proxy force for Iran in Europe. Tehran has denied the charges.
"Iran’s brazen use of transnational criminal organizations and narcotics traffickers underscores the regime’s attempts to achieve its aims through any means, with no regard for the cost to communities across Europe,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement in March as the US sanctioned Majid and Foxtrot.
The US Treasury said the group has carried out operations targeting Israeli and Jewish institutions, including an attempted bombing outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm and grenade attacks near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen in October 2024.
The attacks are part of an apparent broader strategy that has alarmed European security services. In a December 2024 report, Bloomberg detailed how Iran-affiliated groups have increasingly recruited local criminals — including minors — to carry out assaults on Jewish and Israeli institutions across Europe.
Iran’s expanding covert footprint in Europe is linked to the broader regional conflict between Israel and Iranian proxy forces, Bloomberg reported, and the strategy may be aimed at fueling social tensions in countries already divided over immigration and integration.
Sweden’s Security Service (Säpo) and Israeli intelligence agency Mossad have both identified the Foxtrot criminal network as one of the groups recruited by Tehran for sabotage operations in Europe.
While Iranian officials deny using criminal organizations abroad, leaders of the Islamic Republic have repeatedly praised attacks on Israeli interests globally.
The controversial broadcast aired Wednesday on Channel One and featured a guest reciting verses disparaging Abu Bakr, the first caliph in Sunni Islam, during a midday segment.
The footage was quickly deleted from IRIB-affiliated platforms, as the broadcaster scrambled to contain the crisis.
In a joint statement from Sunni majority Sistan and Baluchestan, the province's governor Mansour Bijar and the Supreme Leader’s regional representative Mostafa Mohami condemned the broadcast, describing it as offensive to the sacred beliefs of the Sunni community and a source of distress and anger across the Muslim world.
Sunnis make up at least 10 percent of Iran's 88 million population, and Sistan and Baluchestan is one of the few Sunni-majority regions in a predominantly Shiite country.
While they welcomed the swift dismissals and referral of those responsible to the judiciary, they urged systemic reforms and punitive measures to prevent recurrence and called on the judiciary to ensure “deterrent accountability and public transparency,” IRNA reported.
The state broadcaster has removed the channel’s programming director and head of production. Additionally, eight individuals involved in the show’s creation now face criminal charges, as reported by state media.
A special committee comprising representatives from IRIB’s security, legal, and inspection branches has been tasked with investigating the incident further.
“Sowing discord in the Islamic community has no defenders among true Muslims, whether Shia or Sunni,” IRIB chief Peyman Jebeli said. “The error of extremist ignorants is unforgivable."
The network also aired a string of unity-themed documentaries on Wednesday featuring Sunni figures, a move seen as an effort to contain the backlash and reaffirm the state’s emphasis on intra-Muslim unity amid sensitive diplomatic engagement with Sunni-led Saudi Arabia as Shia majority Iran tries to cultivate closer ties to its Sunni neighbors.
This is not the first time IRIB has drawn criticism over sectarian or politically provocative content. Last week, Nasim TV apologized for airing a satirical segment mocking Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister just days after a rare visit by the kingdom’s defense chief to Tehran.
In 2019, IRIB announced the dismissal of the director and broadcast manager of Channel Five following the unvetted airing of controversial remarks by a eulogist during a religious program.
The decision came at the directive of then-IRIB chief Abdolali Ali-Asgari, who said that “safeguarding the dignity of the Islamic ummah” remained a core principle of the broadcaster under the leadership of the Supreme Leader.
Among those dismissed was Javad Ramazannejad, who had been appointed to lead Channel Five less than a year prior to the incident.
With a budget now larger than that of ten ministries and a steadily eroding domestic audience—polls show viewership plummeting from 57% to just 11%—Iran’s state broadcaster faces intensifying scrutiny over its legitimacy, oversight, and role in shaping national identity.
Sunnis, though legal in Iran as a branch of Islam, are among the country's religious minorities which rights groups say are routinely oppressed.
Last year, Human Rights Watch reported that Iranian law denies freedom of religion to minorities such as Baha’is and discriminates against them.
"The government also discriminates against other religious minorities, including Sunni Muslims, and restricts cultural and political activities among the country’s Azeri, Kurdish, Arab, and Baluch ethnic minorities," the report added.
