Larry Neumeister and Eric Tucker
Updated ,first published
New York: Three men have been accused by American authorities of being Iran-supported operatives who plotted an assault on a British airbase used by the US Air Force, as well as a string of attacks on Jewish communities in Europe and the United States.
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 an indictment unsealed in Manhattan Federal Court. Saadi is currently in custody in the US.
Lawyer Jamie McDonald in New York said Saadi, who was arrested in the northern hemisphere spring, had continued to co-ordinate with his co-defendants in the days leading up to the attempted September attack on the British Royal Air Force Base in Fairford, where American bombers and troops had been stationed.
“These defendants helped orchestrate a campaign of terror on behalf of terrorist organisations affiliated with Iran that targeted Jewish communities in Europe and the United States, and the British military base, RAF Fairford, housing American service members,” McDonald said.
“The threat presented by Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups to America and our allies is not hypothetical – it is very real.”
The indictment offers fresh insight into an episode shrouded in mystery for more than a month. Five men were detained after midnight on September 27 (British time) on suspected explosives and terrorism offences after three suspicious vans were spotted travelling towards RAF Fairford in western England.
A sixth suspect, a British-Iranian dual national, was arrested several days later. All were initially released on bail, but one man was last month rearrested and charged in connection with the plot, while another was detained separately and charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service.
British nationals Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, and Nouman Essghir, 24, both from London, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on October 27 and were charged under the 2023 National Security Act. Their case will next be heard at the Old Bailey on November 20.
British authorities linked the Fairford incident to Tehran, and though Iran denied involvement, it prompted Washington to redeploy aircraft stationed there back to the US.
In response to latest the New York charges, US Attorney-General Todd Blanche said: “Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American service members will be prosecuted by the United States government.”
Meanwhile, the US Air Force on Tuesday relocated more aircraft from another base in eastern England because of a threat, officials told the Associated Press.
The Military Air Tracking Alliance, a team of about 30 open-source analysts who routinely monitor military and government flight activity, said it had spotted 13 American aircraft leaving RAF Mildenhall for bases in Scotland, Spain and Germany.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the evacuation, said that the threat related to Iran, according to people familiar with the matter. RAF Mildenhall hosts the US Air Force’s KC-135 Stratotanker, which refuels bombers flying missions into the Middle East.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was “constantly repositioning forces around the world for a variety of reasons”, and referred questions to the Pentagon, which didn’t provide immediate confirmation.
Coded language used to direct plot
RAF Fairford, 160 kilometres west of London, has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East.
According to the New York indictment, Saadi used coded language in communications with relatives from jail to direct that money be passed along to others who could carry out attacks.
The charges allege that the three men conspired together to use a network of contacts in Britain to commit terrorist attacks on behalf of an Iran-aligned terrorist network, which included the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kata’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades).
In June, 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 on the latest development.
Both Kata’ib Hezbollah and Iran’s IRGC have been designated by Washington as foreign terrorist organisations. American prosecutors say Saadi was a Kata’ib Hezbollah commander.
In a separate development, a member of the US Army was arrested on Tuesday in England on suspicion of espionage related to Russia, British counter-terror police said. The arrest comes amid tension between Moscow and much of Europe.
The 41-year-old man, who was not named, was detained near Gloucester on suspicion of violating two sections of the National Security Act 2023: assisting a foreign intelligence service and obtaining or disclosing protected information.
Police said the arrest was not related to other counter-terrorism investigations, indicating no connection with the suspected plot linked to Iran.
The Metropolitan Police said its counter-terror forces worked closely with the FBI and US military. In the news release, FBI director Kash Patel called it an “important arrest” involving espionage allegations that are of “utmost concern” to the US and its allies.
Brigadier General Sean Stinchon, commanding general of the US Army’s Counterintelligence Command, described the suspect as a senior soldier but offered no other details on his identity in a news release. When asked for more details, Army Counterintelligence Command declined to provide more information.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Associated Press has tracked about 200 incidents of sabotage and malign activity across Europe blamed on Russia by Western officials, including organising plots to set fire to warehouses, launching drones and trying to kill enemies abroad, as well as stealing defence technology and carrying out cyberattacks on critical European infrastructure.
The Pentagon, the British Prime Minister’s office and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
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