Three men have been charged in the United States with orchestrating 18 Iran-backed terrorist plots in Europe, including a series of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London and the incident at RAF Fairford.
US officials allege that Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national, and Iranian Mohsen Mohajeri used a network of contacts in the United Kingdom to direct the Fairford plot from Iran. Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, already imprisoned in the US, is accused of smuggling coded messages to the pair from jail during phone calls with his family members.
Charges and alleged plots
All three men are accused of working for banned groups, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah. They were charged in an eight-count indictment unsealed in the US on Tuesday.
It is alleged they were behind 18 attacks in Europe, seven of which occurred in the UK – the most of any country – and attempted to bomb a synagogue in New York. 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 Fairford, a British Royal Air Force base where American forces were stationed.”
RAF Fairford incident
Last month, two men appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged under the National Security Act over the incident near the Gloucestershire air base on September 27, which saw three suspicious vans searched by police. Each had an oil drum inside, two of which contained petrol, prosecutors said.
Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, from London, is accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service by acting as an intermediary for an Iranian handler known only as Ali. Nouman Essghir, 24, also from London, is accused of entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK, relating to an alleged reconnaissance mission around a month before the Fairford incident.
Alleged preparations
According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Iraqi national Al-Hassani “allegedly directed and paid associates in the United Kingdom to conduct preparatory steps and arrange logistics for the RAF Fairford” plot. He is accused of paying an unnamed individual to perform pre-operational surveillance of RAF Fairford’s perimeter.
It is also alleged he “tasked and paid several individuals to help him prepare for the plot, including by procuring vans and barrels of fuel, researching the purchase of chemical accelerants, including large quantities of potassium chloride, and purchasing metallic objects that could be used as explosive shrapnel.” The DOJ said Al-Hassani instructed those individuals to outfit the vans to create the appearance that they were used by a fuel delivery business and a swimming pool supply business, and was in frequent communication with the drivers of the vans the morning of the incident.
The US removed its bombers from the base following the incident, and Iran has denied any involvement.
