Ambushed Taking Out the Trash: A Pre-Dawn Shooting in Small-Town Netherlands

On a Thursday morning in Schoonhoven — a quiet town near Rotterdam in the western Netherlands — a 36-year-old Dutch police employee walked out to put out his trash bin and was shot. He had been under surveillance beforehand, according to witnesses. He never reached the bin. Gunshots rang out. He was found seriously wounded near a parked car. He was rushed to hospital, where he remained in serious condition.

This was not a random act of urban crime. The victim had built a following of between 40,000 and 41,000 followers on Instagram, where he had consistently and publicly criticised Iran’s Islamic leadership, expressed support for Iranian opposition figures including Reza Pahlavi, identified as an atheist, and highlighted protests in Iran. His shooting is being investigated by Dutch authorities with the explicit question of whether it was directed by Tehran — and Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel has said the connection between the victim’s Iranian background and his outspoken criticism of the regime “is something we must take seriously.”

Police launched a major investigation immediately, deploying a specialized major crimes team — known in Dutch as the TGO — to analyze images of a suspected getaway vehicle. Authorities searched several homes in connection with the case and seized evidence. No suspects have been publicly identified or charged. Police urged witnesses to come forward.

Justice Minister: “The Fact That He Spoke Out Against the Regime Is Something We Must Take Seriously”

Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel addressed the case directly, confirming that authorities are actively investigating a possible link to Iran. His words were measured — but their meaning was not ambiguous. An Iranian man living in the Netherlands, publicly criticising Iran’s Islamic rulers on social media to a following of tens of thousands, is shot outside his home. Investigators are asking who ordered it.

The victim’s social media activity, reviewed by Dutch media, shows a man who had built his public voice around opposition to Iran’s Islamic rulers. He had posted content appearing to praise U.S. President Trump following news related to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He shared content supportive of Reza Pahlavi — the son of Iran’s last Shah and a prominent voice among Iranian exile opposition figures. He identified as an atheist and documented the Iranian protest movement.

In the current context — with U.S.-Israel military operations against Iran ongoing and Tehran’s proxy networks activated across Europe — his profile made him a target in exactly the manner that European intelligence agencies have been warning about: a diaspora critic, publicly visible, insufficiently protected, ambushed on home soil.

This Is Not the First Time Iran Has Killed on Dutch Soil

Dutch intelligence services have previously established links between Iran and assassinations conducted on Dutch territory. The Schoonhoven shooting, if confirmed as Tehran-directed, would fit a documented and recurring pattern — the IRGC’s use of the Netherlands as a theater for targeted killings of Iranian dissidents, opposition figures, and critics living in exile.

• 2015 · Almere, Netherlands Ali Motamed (aka Mohammad Reza Kolahi Samadi) — an Iranian dissident and critic of the regime — was killed in Almere. Dutch authorities established strong indications of Iranian involvement. He had been living in exile in the Netherlands under a changed identity.
• 2017 · The Hague, Netherlands Ahmad Mola Nissi — former President of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), an advocate for Arab Iranian minority rights — was shot dead outside his home in The Hague. Dutch prosecutors linked the assassination to an Iranian intelligence network. He had sought asylum in the Netherlands after facing persecution in Iran.
• March 2026 · Schoonhoven, Netherlands Dutch police employee, 36 — an outspoken Iranian-Dutch critic of the Islamic Republic with 40,000+ Instagram followers — is shot outside his home. Iranian link under active investigation. Condition: serious.

Iran’s Assassination Campaign Extends Across Europe

The Netherlands is not alone. European authorities in multiple countries have documented Iranian intelligence operations — ranging from surveillance and recruitment of criminal proxies to foiled bombings and assassination plots — targeting dissidents, journalists, and opposition figures living on European soil. The Schoonhoven shooting is the latest point on a map that stretches from Copenhagen to Paris to London.