VVD MP Ulysse Ellian received a threatening email from the Iranian embassy shortly after taking up office in 2021 to say that, as an Iranian subject, he was being monitored, he said in an interview with RTL Nieuws.

Ellian (36), who was not born in Iran, is one of several European politicians of Iranian descent the regime in Iran is keeping tabs on, including in the Netherlands. “The blood of your father makes you a citizen of Iran and subject to Iranian law,” the email said.

The MP’s father, Leiden University professor Afshin Ellian, is a critic of the Iranian regime and has been under police protection for years.

The embassy, Ellian said, sent him a list of Iranian laws which would apply to him in an effort to intimidate him. “It’s to show they know exactly who you are,” he told RTL.

Ellian decided to go public with the threat because he wants the EU to put more political pressure on Iran. “The Islamic regime is intimidating, threatening and killing opponents all over the world. This is the modus operandi of evil,” he said.

The MP said the VVD parliamentary party and the cabinet supported him at the time but that he did not know if any diplomatic measures were taken.

Now that the case has come to light, parliament wants the regime to be called to account publicly. D66 MP Jan Peternotte said the “intimidation of a politician is “totally unacceptable” and called on foreign minister Castpar Veldkamp to take action. “As parliamentarians, we must stand up to this,” he said.

Ellian and his parents came to the Netherlands via Afghanistan. In 2021 he became an MP for the VVD and a vocal advocate for a clampdown on organised crime. He has been under police protection since 2022, and it was assumed the threat against him came from criminals.

The matter is likely to be discussed in parliament after the Christmas break.