• Analysis
Iranian Operative Charged Over RAF Fairford Attack Plot, Say New York Federal Prosecutors
US federal prosecutors have charged Mohammad Dawood al-Saadi, an Iranian operative held in New York, over an alleged RAF Fairford attack plot said to have been directed from his prison cell and planned for September.
What the new indictment alleges
New York federal prosecutors have charged Mohammad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian and Iraqi national described as an Iranian operative jailed in New York, with directing the foiled RAF Fairford attack plot from custody. The new indictment alleges he transmitted plans to two co-conspirators to buy large quantities of chemicals usable as explosives, for use in an attack on the base in September.
Al-Saadi is accused of association with Kata'ib Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and of planning the attack as retribution for the US war in Iran.
The co-conspirators and the surveillance
According to the indictment, al-Saadi transmitted his plans to Mohsen Mohajeri, an operative of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and to another Iranian, Mohammad Ali al-Hassani.
Al-Hassani is alleged to have arranged the groundwork for the operation:
- •tasking others with surveilling the base
- •procuring vans and barrels of fuel
- •researching chemical accelerants and metallic objects that could serve as shrapnel
Why RAF Fairford
RAF Fairford serves as the European home for US air force bombers and was used by the United States during its bombing campaign against Iran. In July, the IRGC issued a statement declaring that any bases used by the US to attack Iran, including Fairford, were "legitimate targets".
The September arrests
Five men from London were arrested in the village of Whelford, near RAF Fairford, on 27 September on suspicion of explosives and terrorism offences. The arrests came after a farmer reported vans blocking a road near the base while she was on her way back from a party.
Prosecutors' statement
US attorney Jamie McDonald said the defendants allegedly helped orchestrate a campaign of terror on behalf of terrorist organizations affiliated with Iran, targeting Jewish communities in Europe and the US as well as RAF Fairford. She said they are alleged to have continued coordinating terrorist activity through coded communications and a network of associates overseas, even after a co-conspirator was in federal custody.
"The threat presented by Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups to America and our allies is not hypothetical – it is very real"
Al-Saadi had already been charged with alleged links to 18 terrorist attacks in Europe and with allegedly planning to bomb a synagogue in New York, according to the southern district of New York. He remains in federal custody in New York, where he faces the new indictment alongside those earlier charges.
