US charges 3 Iran-backed operatives over attacks against Jews, plot targeting UK airbase

Three Iran-backed operatives were charged over terror attacks and attempted terror attacks against Jews and other targets in the United States and Europe, as well as a planned assault on a British airbase used by the US Air Force, the US Justice Department announced on Tuesday.

Charges against Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national; Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national; and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national, were outlined in a superseding indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court.

Al-Saadi, the only one of the three in custody, had previously been charged in a US federal court.

The Justice Department charged the group with involvement in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks in support of Kataeb Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Both groups are US-designated terrorist organizations.

The network allegedly facilitated attacks in a wave of terrorism against European Jewish communities after the start of the Iran war.

The attacks included the near-fatal stabbing of two Jewish men in London in April and a firebombing of a London synagogue.

The defendants allegedly directed the attackers during live video calls and distributed propaganda footage afterward.

The alleged plots involved an attempted attack on RAF Fairfield, a British airbase where US forces were based, and an attempted bombing of a synagogue in New York.

Al-Saadi, while imprisoned in New York, allegedly attempted to coordinate attacks with the other two defendants through coded messages with relatives to direct that money be passed along to others who could carry out attacks.

“These defendants helped orchestrate a campaign of terror on behalf of terrorist organizations affiliated with Iran that targeted Jewish communities in Europe and the United States, and the British military base, RAF Fairford, housing American service members,” US Attorney Jamie McDonald in New York said in a news release. “The threat presented by Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups to America and our allies is not hypothetical — it is very real.”

Attorney General Todd Blanche said: “Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American servicemembers will be prosecuted by the United States government.”

The new indictment offers fresh insight into an episode that has been shrouded in mystery for more than a month after five men were detained after midnight on September 27 on suspected explosives and terrorism offenses after three suspicious vans were spotted traveling toward the base in western England.

A sixth suspect, a British-Iranian dual national, was arrested several days later. All the men were released on bail.

British authorities linked the incident to Tehran, and though Iran denied involvement, the arrests prompted the US to withdraw its bombers that had been stationed there. The bombers were redeployed to their home bases in the United States.

RAF Fairford, located 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East.

In June, al-Saadi pleaded not guilty to charges that he plotted at least 18 attacks in Europe in retaliation for the US and Israel’s war with Iran. He called himself a “prisoner of war.” He has been held without bail since. His lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday on the latest development.

Both Kataeb Hezbollah and the IRGC have been designated by the US government as foreign terrorist organizations. US prosecutors say Al-Saadi was a Kataeb Hezbollah commander.