Spanish ex-politician blames Iran for attack in which he was shot in face

A Spanish former politician who survived a shooting attack said on Friday he believed Iran's government had hired hitmen to assassinate him over his links to an Iranian dissident group

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, who was shot outside his Madrid residence last Nov. 9, provided no evidence for the assertion.

Iran's foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment, and police have not released details of an investigation underway into the attack.

Vidal-Quadras headed the conservative People's Party in the Catalonia region in the 1990s, co-founded the far-right party Vox and was a vice-president of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2014.

Why does he believe Iran targeted him?

At his first press conference since the shooting, he said he believed "the Iranian regime" ordered the attack because of his support for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a Paris-based coalition of dissidents that calls for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.

"Let them hear me in Tehran - they didn't achieve their goal. I've miraculously saved my life and I intend to continue this fight for the rest of my life," he said, adding he now had more motivation to do so.

He said that on the day of the attack, he was about to enter his building when someone behind him said: "Hello, sir."

He turned his head and was shot, but the movement meant the bullet entered the lower side of his jaw and was not lethal.

Vidal-Quadras was included on an Iranian sanctions list issued in October 2022 in retaliation for EU sanctions imposed after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurd arrested for allegedly flouting Iran's mandatory dress code.

Four suspects have been arrested in connection with the attack, three of them in Spain and one in Colombia.