US Charges Three Iran-Backed Operatives Over Nearly 20 Attacks Targeting Jewish Communities and a UK Airbase

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed an eight-count superseding indictment on Tuesday, November 10, charging three men with coordinating nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks against Jewish communities and other targets across Europe and the United States, including a September plot against a British air base housing American military personnel, The Media Line reported. The indictment names Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national; Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national; and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national, and alleges they acted in support of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah, both designated terrorist organizations by Washington.

The alleged campaign, as prosecutors describe it, included arson attacks on a Jewish charity and a synagogue in London, the near-fatal stabbing of two Jewish men, and preparations for an attack on a Manhattan synagogue, with defendants at times directing attacks through live video calls and helping distribute propaganda footage. The Fairford allegation is the indictment's centerpiece: al-Hassani is accused of organizing an attempted attack on RAF Fairford in western England, where US bombers and personnel were stationed - associates allegedly obtained fuel, arranged vans disguised as commercial vehicles and approached the installation in September before British police intervened; a DOJ summary reported by Magna Bureau says three vans, some carrying barrels of fuel, were driven toward the base on September 26 and recovered in the early hours of September 27. Washington later withdrew its bombers from the base, and Iran has denied involvement.

Only al-Saadi is in American custody. Detained in New York since his arrest in May - when he was charged over about 18 attacks in Europe and an attempted bombing of a New York synagogue - he allegedly continued coordinating operations through coded telephone conversations with relatives in Iraq, and he pleaded not guilty to the earlier terrorism charges in June. Mohajeri and al-Hassani remain outside US custody. Attorney General Todd Blanche said, in the statement carried by The Media Line: "Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American servicemembers will be prosecuted by the United States government." FBI Director Kash Patel announced the indictment on November 10, USA TODAY reported.

The charges are allegations in an indictment, not findings of guilt, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. The case lands in a week when the threat picture around Iran has moved twice more in public: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has relocated to a US military base after Iranian threats, reported separately by this station tonight, and prosecutors' account describes a campaign run in support of organizations the United States has designated as terrorist groups since long before this year's war.