US prosecutors have unveiled terrorism charges against three men the Justice Department labeled “Iranian operatives,” accusing them of helping orchestrate an alleged plot targeting Britain’s RAF Fairford airbase — a site that has supported US military operations against Iran.
According to the department, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani played roles in planning and directing the September incident at the base in southwest England.
The investigation began after a local farmer alerted police to what he described as “suspicious” activity near Fairford, reporting a group of men and several white vans in the area.
A US charging document alleges that Al-Hassani, a 35-year-old Iraqi national, instructed unnamed individuals to drive to the airbase in the vans, some of which were carrying barrels of fuel.
Prosecutors say he had previously paid the group to purchase metallic items that could serve as shrapnel, and to make the vehicles appear as though they were part of a fuel delivery operation.
Al-Saadi, 32, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national who is already jailed in New York on terrorism charges, is accused of relaying coded communications to Al-Hassani and Mohajeri, 48, an Iranian national, as the plan was being coordinated.
Within days of the incident, the United States pulled all of its B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford.
“Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American servicemembers will be prosecuted by the United States government,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
The three defendants were charged in an eight-count indictment that also links them to alleged involvement in other plots supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the pro-Iranian group Kataeb Hezbollah.
Police at the Fairford site in southwest England in September
US authorities had previously outlined allegations against Mr Al-Saadi in May, accusing him of directing and encouraging attacks on US and Israeli interests and calling for the killing of Americans and Jews, framed as retaliation for the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Investigators said he and associates planned, coordinated and claimed responsibility for at least 18 terrorist attacks in Europe and two in Canada.
Among the examples cited were the non-fatal stabbing of two Jewish men in London in April, along with a string of arson attacks on synagogues, Israeli businesses and Jewish schools in Amsterdam, Munich and other locations.
Mr Al-Saadi has been held in US custody since May.
The new indictment expands the case to include his alleged connection to the RAF Fairford incident and adds the alleged roles of Mr Al-Hassani and Mr Mohajeri. Prosecutors did not say where those two men are located.
All three are charged with conspiring to provide material support to Kataeb Hezbollah and the IRGC, conspiring and providing material support for acts of terrorism, and conspiring to bomb a place of public use.
Mr Al-Saadi faces additional counts, including attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries and attempted destruction of property by means of fire or explosive.
In the UK, police last month brought national security charges against two British men in connection with the RAF Fairford incident.
One was accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service believed to be based in Iran, while another was charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose described as “prejudicial” to the UK.
Separately, flight-tracking data showed yesterday that the US military had moved at least a dozen aircraft out of a second British airbase, RAF Mildenhall, after the Wall Street Journal reported on what it said was a threat from Iran.
