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On Tuesday, November 10, the Justice Department unsealed an eight-count superseding indictment in New York charging three Iran-backed operatives over nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks in Europe and the United States, including a September plot against RAF Fairford in England.
The defendants are Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, an Iraqi and Iranian national; Mohsen Mohajeri, 48, an Iranian national; and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, 35, an Iraqi national. Prosecutors allege the three acted for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Kata'ib Hizballah. Al-Saadi is in federal custody in New York. CBS News reported that Mohajeri and al-Hassani are not in custody.
According to the indictment, al-Hassani paid someone around August 22 to watch the perimeter of the base, which housed US military aircraft and personnel. In September, associates were paid to obtain vans and fuel barrels, research chemical accelerants, and buy metal objects for use as shrapnel. The vans carried decals suggesting a fuel delivery business and a pool supply business.
On September 26, three vans set off toward the base. At least two were stopped at a security roadblock and turned away, and prosecutors say al-Hassani directed the drivers before and after the checkpoint. UK police recovered the three white vans early the next morning and arrested the people inside.
Prosecutors say al-Saadi helped coordinate the plot while awaiting trial in New York. He allegedly used calls to his mother and sister in Iraq to pass coded messages to his co-defendants, with the word "work" standing for terrorist activity. On about September 24, he allegedly told his family to give al-Hassani money for the operation. The Fairford attempt followed three days later.
The new charges build on the case brought in May, after al-Saadi's arrest abroad on May 1. That case covered roughly 18 attacks in Europe and an attempt to bomb a synagogue in New York. The European attacks were claimed under the name Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, which prosecutors describe as a front for Kata'ib Hizballah and other designated terrorist groups. Seven of those attacks took place in the UK, including arson, explosive attacks and a near-fatal stabbing of two Jewish men in London. Prosecutors say no attributed attacks followed for about four months after al-Saadi's arrest.
In October, we reported that the UK government blamed the IRGC for the Fairford plot.
All three men are charged with conspiring to provide material support to Kata'ib Hizballah and the IRGC, conspiring to bomb a place of public use, and financing terrorism. Al-Saadi also faces counts of attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries and attempted destruction of property by fire or explosive. The most serious counts carry a maximum of life in prison. An indictment is an allegation, and all three defendants are presumed innocent.
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