Gert Vercauteren told French-language public broadcaster RTBF on Thursday that the perpetrators “certainly” acted on Tehran’s orders. He said the attacks on Jewish site were part of a coordinated campaign, rather than isolated incidents.
An explosive device was set off outside the Synagogue de Liège on the city’s Rue Léon Frédéricq shortly before 4 a.m. on March 9. That same week, a car was torched in Antwerp‘s Jewish quarter. No one was hurt in either attack.
According to the report, the Belgian attacks coincided with a string of plots in the Netherlands, including a foiled bombing of a synagogue in Heemstede, a small town roughly 12 miles west of Amsterdam.
A main suspect in the network was recently arrested in Turkey. Belgian security services have recorded no attacks since, the report noted.
In a response to the report, Israeli Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg David Saranga called on European nations to change their policies toward Iran “to reflect the threat Tehran poses on Europe’s own streets.
“I’m surprised. Iran directing terror attacks against Jewish sites in Belgium? Who could have imagined,” he tweeted sarcastically.
I’m surprised.
Iran directing terror attacks against Jewish sites in Belgium?
Who could have imagined.
Perhaps it’s time for Europe’s policy towards Iran to reflect the threat Tehran poses on Europe’s own streets. https://t.co/qBl7pDz5kY
— David Saranga (@DavidSaranga) September 25, 2026
Last year, the United States and 13 European nations condemned attempts by the Iranian regime’s intelligence services to kill, kidnap and harass people, including Jewish citizens, in their respective territories.
“We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty,” according to the joint statement published by the United States, the United Kingdom, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
The Tehran regime is “increasingly collaborating with international criminal organizations to target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens and current and former officials,” read the statement shared by the U.S. Department of State. “This is unacceptable.”
In 2024, Swedish intelligence agency SÄPO said Iran may have orchestrated terrorist attacks on Israeli targets in Scandinavia.
The statement came shortly after two blasts, likely caused by hand grenades, occurred close to Israel’s diplomatic mission in Denmark, days after gunfire was heard in the vicinity of the embassy in Sweden.
Fredrik Hallstrom, head of operations at SÄPO, noted that “there are some things that could point in that direction,” namely, Tehran’s involvement in the two assaults.
Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency has also said that the Islamic Republic is behind a series of terrorist attacks carried out by criminal gangs targeting Israeli embassies across Europe, including Sweden.
