Federal prosecutors in New York have charged three men with directing a string of Iran-backed terror plots in Europe and the United States, including an attempted attack in September on Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford, the English air base where U.S. bombers were stationed. One of the three is accused of helping steer that plot from a federal jail cell in Brooklyn.
The eight-count superseding indictment, unsealed Tuesday, November 10, names Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national; Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national; and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, whom the Associated Press and The National describe as an Iraqi national. (CNN described al-Hassani as Iranian; Right Side News could not read the indictment itself to settle the point.) Only al-Saadi is in U.S. custody.
What the indictment alleges
According to the indictment, as reported by the Associated Press, the three men conspired to use a network of contacts in the United Kingdom to carry out attacks on behalf of an Iran-aligned network that included Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iraqi militia Kata’ib Hizballah. The U.S. government designates both as foreign terrorist organizations. Prosecutors say al-Saadi was a Kata’ib Hizballah commander. CNN reported that the indictment identifies Mohajeri as an operative of the Revolutionary Guard.
The Justice Department ties the defendants to nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks, which the Associated Press reported targeted Jewish communities in Europe and the United States. The National reported that these included arson and explosives attacks and a near-fatal stabbing in London that seriously injured two Jewish men, one of them a dual U.S.-British citizen.
One passage stands out. In mid-April, the indictment says, al-Saadi, al-Hassani and Mohajeri directed a person to set fire to a Jewish charity in London while they watched the attack live, on video projected from a laptop onto a large screen. The next day they allegedly directed an attack on a London synagogue, with al-Hassani telling the attacker to “light it up like a Christmas tree.”
The Fairford plot
On September 27, British police detained a group of men after three suspicious vans were seen heading toward RAF Fairford, about 100 miles west of London, where U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers were based. Prosecutors now allege al-Hassani ran the early stages of that operation. According to court documents described by CNN, he ordered surveillance of the base, paid unnamed people to buy vans and barrels of fuel, and stayed in contact with the drivers as they approached, including when they reached base security.
The U.S. withdrew the bombers after the arrests and sent them back to the United States, the Associated Press reported.
Messages from a Brooklyn jail
Al-Saadi was arrested this spring. CNN reported that he was detained in Turkey days after trying to hire someone in April for attacks in the United States; the person he was talking to was an undercover agent. He has been held since then at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, under special administrative measures that limit his contact to immediate family and his lawyers.
Prosecutors say that did not stop him. The indictment alleges he used coded language on monitored calls to his mother and sister in Iraq, using the word “work” for terrorist activity and asking relatives to pass messages to Mohajeri. “What are they doing about all our old work?” he asked his sister on a July 30 call, according to the indictment. She answered that “it isn’t canceled.”
On September 24, prosecutors say, he told his family to “give him money so we can do it.” The indictment says the attempt on Fairford came three days later. From June through September he took part in nine phone or video calls from jail, according to a prosecution filing cited by the Associated Press.
“These defendants helped orchestrate a campaign of terror on behalf of terrorist organizations affiliated with Iran,” said Jamie McDonald, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. Attorney General Todd Blanche said anyone who plans an attack on a base housing American service members “will be prosecuted by the United States government.” Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel said the case showed Iran’s determination to carry out attacks in Europe and the United States.
What is not established
These are accusations. None of the three men has been convicted, and the indictment’s claims have not been tested in court. Al-Saadi pleaded not guilty in June to the earlier charges, which accused him of plotting at least 18 attacks in Europe, and has called himself a “prisoner of war.” His lawyers did not respond to the Associated Press on Tuesday. Mohajeri and al-Hassani are outside U.S. reach.
Iran has denied involvement in the Fairford incident. British authorities have linked it to Tehran, and two of the men arrested in Britain were later re-arrested on suspicion of assisting Iran’s intelligence service and charged under the National Security Act. But CNN reported that all seven men first detained were released after no explosives were found in the vans. CNN also reported, citing unnamed people briefed on the matter, that the plan was to use the fuel-laden vans as vehicle bombs. That account has not been confirmed in any public court record Right Side News could read, and it should be treated as unconfirmed.
One question the record leaves open is how a man held under tight restrictions kept discussing “work” on recorded calls for months. Prosecutors told the judge they were concerned about the calls and cut him back to one hourlong call a month. His defense, for its part, complained in September that calls were being cut off without explanation.
Sources
- Associated Press (via WDIV ClickOnDetroit): US charges 3 men with plotting terror attacks, including planned assault on UK air base (Nov. 10, 2026)
- CNN: Iranian operative used coded messages on NY jail call to direct failed UK terror plot (Nov. 10, 2026)
- The National: US charges three men over alleged Iran-backed terror plots, including at RAF Fairford (Nov. 10, 2026)
Featured image: Gate, RAF Fairford, by Vieve Forward, via Geograph/Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.
How this article was made: Right Side News researched and drafted this article with the help of AI tools. Sources are linked so readers can check them. Spot an error? Tell us in the comments and we will correct it.
