US charges three men over alleged Iranian-backed plot targeting UK airbase

United States prosecutors have indicted three men accused of operating on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kataib Hezbollah to plot attacks, including an operation directed at the UK's RAF Fairford base. The eight-count indictment alleges that dual Iranian-Iraqi citizen Mohammad al-Saadi coordinated logistics from a New York detention facility alongside two Iran-based accomplices.

• The US Department of Justice unsealed an eight-count indictment charging Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, Mohsen Mohajeri, and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani with terrorism offenses connected to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kataib Hezbollah.· 3 sources
• The charges include a September incident targeting RAF Fairford in England, where associates allegedly drove vans carrying fuel barrels, shrapnel, and chemical accelerants disguised as commercial vehicles toward the base.· 2 sources
• Prosecutors allege that al-Saadi used coded jailhouse phone calls to his mother and sister in Iraq while in US custody to communicate operational directives and approve funding for al-Hassani.· 3 sources
• The defendants are also accused of coordinating roughly 18 other European attacks, including arson on Jewish institutions and the stabbing of two Jewish men in London.· 4 sources
• Following the Fairford incident, the US military withdrew B-1 bombers from the base and subsequently relocated at least 12 aircraft from RAF Mildenhall following Iranian threats.· 4 sources