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.

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.