Three men with alleged ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah have been charged in the United States over a series of suspected terrorist plots, including multiple attacks planned in London.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has unsealed an eight-count indictment in a Manhattan court against Iranian-Iraqi national Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, Iranian national Mohsen Mohajeri, and Iraqi national Mohammad Ali al-Hassani. They are accused of supporting two US-designated foreign terrorist organisations.
Alleged London planning revealed
According to the legal documents, Mohajeri, 48, an IRGC operative, and al-Hassani, 35, an Iraqi citizen who previously lived in Britain, are said to have planned attacks while looking at a map of London on a computer screen in a dimly lit room in Iraq, roughly 2,500 miles away.
In one video, Mohajeri allegedly told al-Hassani, "We need to get focused on London." The indictment states that on or about April 6, 2026, the two men planned attacks together in Iraq, and that the group HAYI claimed responsibility for six terrorist attacks in and around London starting about a week later.
Attacks on Jewish targets
The alleged attacks in Britain include the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green, arson on synagogues in London, the burning of Hatzola ambulances, strikes on a Jewish charity and media organisation, and a purported drone attack on the Israeli Embassy in Kensington with drones claimed to have been "loaded with dangerous carcinogenic and radioactive materials."
The DOJ says al-Saadi, 32, who is in jail in America, and the other two men were the masterminds behind the failed terror strike on RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. The attacks were allegedly carried out under the name Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), a purported front for Kataib Hezbollah.
Directed attacks and RAF Fairford plot
On or about April 17, the three men allegedly directed an individual to carry out an attack on a Jewish charity in London in real time, with al-Hassani instructing the person to "light one in your hand," "light it," and "throw the fourth one." The following day, al-Hassani allegedly directed an individual attacking a London synagogue to "light it up like a Christmas tree."
Al-Hassani is also accused of paying an individual to perform surveillance on RAF Fairford's perimeter and of tasking others to procure vans, barrels of fuel, chemical accelerants, and metallic objects for use as shrapnel. He allegedly instructed them to make the vans appear to belong to a fuel delivery business and a swimming pool supply business. Seven people have been arrested and bailed in the UK over the incident, and two British nationals appeared in court last month.
FBI director Kash Patel said: "This eight-count indictment shows the determination of Iran to commit terrorist attacks in Europe and the US, including one plot that was recently prevented at RAF Fairfield, a British Royal Air Force Base where American forces were stationed."
