Top EU politician who survived Iran assassination plot delivers ‘end appeasement’ plea to Cameron

A senior EU politician who survived a shocking assassination attempt last year has asked parliamentarians to tell foreign secretary Lord Cameron to end Britain’s “appeasement of Iran”.

Spanish politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras, the former first vice president of the European Parliament, was in London today to talk to MPs and peers about the need to proscribe Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).

But attempts for him to meet a minister fell on deaf ears.

Professor Vidal-Quadras describes himself as “lucky” after surviving an assassination attempt on 9 November last year which saw a bullet miss his jugular and pass through his jaw.

He was in London with “a simple message” to “end the appeasement” of the regime in Iran and call on the UK to join the US in proscribing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.

Prof Vidal-Quadras is the first European politician to be targeted in Europe with the FBI also preventing an attack in the US on former national secity adviser Jon Bolton.

He said he believes the attack on him is due to his longstanding support for National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) led by Maryam Rajavi.

The veteran Spanish politician told The Independent that the attempt on his life proves that Iran’s war “is now in Europe”.

But according to MPs Home Office ministers were unable to meet with the former head of the People’s Party in Spain following requests.

Tory former cabinet minister David Jones, who chairs the British Committee for Free Iran, said: “I think it is a shame that they [ministers] did not meet him. This is a brave man who is a substantial political figure as well as an academic. He has an important story to tell.

“Given that we know the that the IRGC is operating on British streets there is a serious security issue and Professor Vidal-Quadras could have provided useful information.”

MPs believes that a meeting was not arranged because of the Foreign Office’s opposition to following the US lead in proscribing the IRGC as terrorists.

It has been claimed that the IRGC has been responsible for at least 15 attacks on British streets.

Speaking to The Independent, Prof Vidal-Quadras described the drama of the assassination attempt for which five people have now been arrested with two more, including the assailant, on the run.

The…