Just over two years ago, November 9, 2023 began like any other day. By midday, my life had changed forever. I miraculously survived an assassination attempt ordered by the Islamic Republic of Iran. That should have been a turning point in Europe’s policy toward Tehran. I was the first European politician targeted on European soil by Iranian terror. Yet meaningful change in policy remains elusive.
It happened near my home in Madrid. A man approached me from behind, greeted me politely, and raised a pistol to my head. I turned just as he fired. The bullet lodged in my jaw instead of my neck, leaving me in great agony but alive. As the attacker sped away on a motorcycle, I knew at once why I had been targeted.
Before reaching hospital, I told first responders – and later the public – that Tehran was certainly responsible. I had long been on its enemies list for supporting Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the coalition of pro-democracy groups advocating a secular, non-nuclear republic. The world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism had branded me an enemy for promoting an alternative to its theocratic dictatorship.
My instinct proved correct. A series of arrests and intelligence reports across Europe and beyond have since exposed Iranian spy and terror networks operating globally – from the UK and the Netherlands to Australia. Each revelation confirmed what my experience had foreshadowed: the regime is exporting violence far beyond its borders, and Western complacency only emboldens it.
To their credit, law-enforcement agencies and judiciaries have shown skill and competence in intercepting such plots once uncovered. But I cannot say the same of policymakers. Their reaction has been tragically hesitant, symbolic and insufficient.
Rather than act decisively, European governments have limited themselves to sanctioning a few individual members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), or officials of the regime –as if punishing a handful of mid-level operatives could curb an institution built on repression and terror. Six years after the United States rightly designated the entire IRGC as a foreign terrorist organisation, the EU and UK still hesitate, fearful of offending Tehran.
This fear is misplaced. The policy of engagement has never moderated the regime’s behavior; it has merely given it time and resources to escalate, exporting its terror to European soil. While threatening Western citizens, Tehran continues its nuclear advances, ballistic-missile development, and military partnership with Moscow in its assault on Ukraine.
At the same time, the regime’s savagery at home mirrors its aggression abroad. The NCRI’s principal member, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK), reports that at least 16 of its activists are currently on death row solely for their political beliefs and affiliation. The state-run Fars News Agency, linked to the IRGC, recently called for repeating the 1988 massacre, when about 30,000 political prisoners – some 90% of whom PMOI supporters – were executed.
Executions have since surged to levels unseen in decades. Iran already leads the world in per-capita executions, with more than 850 in 2023 alone – the year after a nationwide uprising shook the regime to its core. The toll reached roughly 1,000 in 2024 and has climbed still higher this year. Human rights groups agree that the clerical rulers are using mass executions to terrorise society into submission.
That strategy is failing. Inside Iran, brave citizens – especially women and young people – continue to defy the regime. Abroad, its campaign of intimidation has only strengthened the resolve of those who oppose it. Having fully recovered from the attempt on my life, I am more committed than ever to supporting the Iranian people and their organised resistance. The network of Resistance Units inside Iran, affiliated to the PMOI, is more active, courageous and determined than ever to lead the way for another uprising to end tyranny.
These realities make one conclusion inescapable: European appeasement and vacillation must end. No amount of negotiation or goodwill gestures will transform a theocracy founded on violence and hate. What will help is solidarity with the Iranian people and their organized resistance and recognition of their right to replace the dictatorship with a democratic republic by themselves.
Europe should begin by blacklisting the IRGC in its entirety, by cutting off its financial and logistical lifelines, by holding Iranian leaders accountable for crimes against humanity and by isolating the mullahs internationally. It should also formally engage with the NCRI as the legitimate voice of Iran’s future.
Two years after the attempt on my life, I still await an appropriate response from Europe. The time for caution and illusion has passed. Tehran’s assassins have already crossed our borders. It is now Europe’s duty to draw the line – firmly, and finally.
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