Three Iran-backed operatives charged over nearly 20 attacks and a plot at RAF Fairford, where U.S. troops were based

Federal prosecutors in New York on Tuesday, Nov. 10, unsealed terrorism charges against three men they say ran a string of Iran-backed attacks in Europe and directed a September plot against RAF Fairford, a British air base where American military planes and troops were stationed.

The eight-count superseding indictment charges Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, a citizen of Iraq and Iran, Mohsen Mohajeri, 48, of Iran, and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, 35, of Iraq. The Justice Department says they acted for Kata'ib Hizballah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, both designated by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organizations, and were involved in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks.

An indictment is only an accusation. All three men are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The RAF Fairford plot

According to the charges, al-Hassani paid a man in Britain on Aug. 22 to scout the perimeter of RAF Fairford, and later received videos of the area around the base. In September he paid others to buy vans and barrels of fuel, research chemical accelerants and buy metal objects that could serve as shrapnel. Decals made the vans look like they belonged to a fuel delivery company and a pool supply business.

On Sept. 26, prosecutors say, al-Hassani directed drivers to take three vans toward the base, some of them later found to contain barrels of fuel. At least two hit a security roadblock and were turned back, and early on Sept. 27 British authorities recovered all three vans and arrested the people inside. Both al-Hassani and Mohajeri were in Iran during the plot, according to the department.

A jail cell in New York

Al-Saadi was already in federal custody. He was arrested abroad on or about May 1 and brought to the U.S., where he faces earlier charges that include an alleged attempt to bomb a synagogue in Manhattan.

Prosecutors say he kept working from a New York jail by sending coded messages relayed through phone calls with his mother and sister in Iraq. On a Sept. 24 call, three days before the plot, he allegedly told his family to "give him money so we can do it," referring to al-Hassani.

The department says the three men also planned many of the 18 attacks claimed in Europe this spring by a group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, which prosecutors describe as a front for Kata'ib Hizballah. Seven of those attacks were in Britain. They included arson, explosives and a stabbing in London that nearly killed two Jewish men, one of whom holds both U.S. and British citizenship.

Five of the eight counts, with the maximum prison terms the department listed, are below.

"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.

The department did not say whether Mohajeri or al-Hassani is in custody. The case is being prosecuted in the Southern District of New York.