Iran summons Dutch envoy to protest assassination attempts claim

Iranian foreign ministry official calls the claim ‘laughable’

A paratrooper carries the Iranian flag over the shrine of Iran's late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during the National Army Day parade ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Apr 18, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

The Iranian foreign ministry summoned the Dutch ambassador to Tehran on Friday, the official IRNA news agency reported, a day after the Netherlands called in Iran's envoy over suspicions that Iran was behind two assassination attempts.

An Iranian foreign ministry official described the Dutch accusation as "laughable" and based on "suspicions or assumptions", according to IRNA.

"It is regrettable that the Dutch diplomatic apparatus acts so easily on speculations injected by its security bodies and the Zionist regime (Israel), and even summons the Iranian ambassador over such an absurd fabrication," the official, Alireza Yousefi, was quoted as saying.

The Netherlands summoned Iran's ambassador after the Dutch intelligence agency, known as the AIVD, said in its annual report published on Thursday that it was likely Iran was behind two assassination attempts in the Netherlands and Spain.

Two men were arrested in June 2024 in the Dutch town of Haarlem after an assassination attempt on an Iranian residing in the country, the report said.

One of the suspects was also believed to have been behind the failed assassination attempt on Spanish politician and Iran critic Alejo Vidal-Quadras in Madrid in November 2023, it said.