The Justice Department on Tuesday unsealed an eight-count indictment charging three Iran-backed operatives with nearly 20 terrorist attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and the United States, including attacks on Jewish communities and a September plot at RAF Fairford, a British air base where U.S. forces were stationed, JNS reports.
The defendants are Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national; Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national; and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national. Prosecutors say they worked for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iraqi militia Kata'ib Hizballah, both designated terrorist organizations.
Al-Saadi was already sitting in a New York jail, charged in May with planning about 18 attacks in Europe and attempting to bomb a synagogue in New York. Prosecutors say he kept coordinating from behind bars through coded messages passed by relatives. Mohajeri and al-Hassani directed the network from inside Iran.
According to the indictment, al-Hassani paid people in Britain to scout the Fairford perimeter in August and then to buy vans, barrels of fuel and metal objects that could be used as shrapnel. On Sept. 26, he allegedly sent three vans toward the base. British police stopped them.
"This eight-count indictment shows the determination of Iran to commit terrorist attacks in Europe and the U.S.," FBI Director Kash Patel said. "All those who threaten our homeland will get the message: justice will find you."
"The threat presented by Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups to America and our allies is not hypothetical," said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. "It is very real."
Al-Saadi faces up to 110 years and two life sentences. Mohajeri and al-Hassani each face up to life in prison.
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