▶ Watch Video: British duo charged in alleged Iran-linked RAF Fairford plot to appear in court
Three Iran-backed operatives have been charged with plotting a terrorist attack at a British Royal Air Force base in the United Kingdom where U.S. troops are stationed, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi was indicted in May on federal charges of conspiracy to provide material support to Iran-backed terrorist organizations, including Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kata’ib Hizballah. He is accused in an eight-count superseding indictment made public Tuesday of attempting to coordinate with two other operatives to attack the British Royal Air Force base in the U.K. in September.
Al-Saadi is currently in federal custody in New York. In Tuesday’s filing, the Justice Department alleged that he had plotted the air base attack with Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national, and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national, by “passing them coded messages through third parties.”
Mohajeri and al-Hassani are not in custody, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
Federal prosecutors allege that beginning in August, Al-Saadi “directed and paid” associates in the United Kingdom to prepare for and arrange an attack at RAF Fairford, including directing an unnamed individual to conduct surveillance at the air base. Al-Saadi then allegedly later paid multiple unnamed people to organize vans and barrels of fuel, and to research chemical accelerants and buy metal to be used as shrapnel for a potential attack.
The indictment alleges that three individuals would then drive the vans, filled with fuel, to RAF Fairford, where they would explode.
Prosecutors say Al-Saadi told the individuals to mark the vans with custom decals to disguise themselves as a fuel delivery or pool supply business and directed his family members to pass messages to his co-conspirators.
In one phone call with his sister from July, Al-Saadi asked his sister to pass on messages to Mohajeri about “work,” referring to terrorist activity, and asked if some of their work was canceled or paused.
Al-Saadi’s sister replied that the work “isn’t cancelled.”
On Sept. 24, Al-Saadi allegedly asked how al-Hassani was, and instructed his family to “give him money so we can do it,” referring to the RAF Fairford attack.
The indictment then alleges that al-Hassani directed three individuals to drive the vans on Sept. 26 to RAF Fairford. Two of the vans encountered security checkpoints and were not able to proceed on their intended route to the base, the indictment alleges.
Federal prosecutors said that law enforcement authorities in the United Kingdom recovered three vans with fuel delivery business decals on them and arrested the drivers.
Prosecutors previously alleged that Al-Saadi had plotted to carry out terror attacks in the U.S., including at a prominent Jewish institution in New York. They also accused him of being “involved in the planning, execution and promotion” of approximately 18 reported terror attacks in Europe and two in Canada against U.S. and Israeli interests since March, in retaliation against the U.S. and Israel’s military actions in Iran.
In a statement, Attorney General Todd Blanche said “anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American servicemembers will be prosecuted by the United States government.”