Three Charged in Plot Against UK Base Used by US Forces
Mohammad al-Saadi, who holds Iranian and Iraqi citizenship, is being held in a federal jail in Brooklyn and is accused of directing the plot through coded messages in calls to family members. A superseding indictment in New York also charges Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammad al-Hassani, who prosecutors say worked with al-Saadi from Iran. The three are alleged to be connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or an associated network.
Prosecutors allege al-Hassani arranged surveillance of RAF Fairford and helped organize vehicles and materials for an attack. The indictment says associates obtained vans, fuel, chemical accelerants and metal intended for use as shrapnel. Some vans were made to resemble vehicles used by fuel or swimming-pool businesses.
Three vehicles were driven toward the base on September 26. British authorities stopped two at a roadblock and seized all three the next day. Police arrested seven men in connection with the incident; they were later released on bail or stringent conditions. Several were taken into custody again in late October, after UK officials cited a high likelihood of Iranian Revolutionary Guard involvement.
No explosives were found in the vans, and the alleged plot did not reach the point of an attack. Al-Saadi had been arrested in May and was already in custody on other terrorism-related charges when prosecutors say he began coordinating the plan. The new indictment accuses all three men in connection with the alleged plot.
Alleged Base Plot Raises Stakes for Due Process
Prosecutors have charged three men over an alleged plan targeting RAF Fairford, but the account of the case also includes a crucial limit: police found no explosives in the vans, and the seven men arrested in Britain were released on bail or stringent conditions.
The indictment accuses Mohammad al-Saadi of coordinating the plan from a Brooklyn jail through coded messages in calls to relatives. It also charges Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammad al-Hassani, whom prosecutors link to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or an associated network. These are allegations, not proof that an attack took place.
Prosecutors say associates prepared vans, fuel, chemical accelerants and metal intended as shrapnel, and that three vehicles headed toward the base on September 26. British authorities stopped two at a roadblock and seized all three the following day. Several of the people initially arrested were taken into custody again in late October after officials cited a high likelihood of Iranian Revolutionary Guard involvement.
The seriousness of a suspected threat does not erase the distinction between an alleged plan and a completed attack. The charges now put that distinction, and the evidence behind the case, at the center of the proceedings.
Iran-Linked Operatives Charged in Threat to US-Used Base
A federal indictment alleges that an Iran-linked network tried to target RAF Fairford, a base used by US forces, with a plan involving vans loaded with fuel and materials intended to act as explosives and shrapnel. Three men have now been charged in New York over the alleged plot.
Prosecutors say Mohammad al-Saadi, already held in a Brooklyn jail, coordinated instructions through coded phone calls to family members. The indictment also names Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammad al-Hassani, whom authorities associate with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or a connected network.
The alleged preparations included surveillance of the base and the acquisition of vans, fuel, chemical accelerants and metal. Three vehicles drove toward RAF Fairford on September 26; British authorities stopped two at a roadblock and seized all three the next day. Seven men were arrested, and several were detained again in late October after UK officials cited a high likelihood of Revolutionary Guard involvement.
The absence of explosives in the vans does not make the alleged preparations trivial: prosecutors say the vehicles and materials were gathered for an attack on a base used by US aircraft. The charges bring the alleged operation into court, where the claims against the three men will be addressed.
Reported by New York Post, CNN.
