Reported by:
Cherry Meigh Timbol
News Content Editor
Published November 12, 2026
NEW YORK. U.S. prosecutors have charged three men described as Iranian-backed operatives over their alleged roles in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks across the United States and Europe, including a plot targeting the UK’s RAF Fairford airbase. The charges were set out in a superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. The allegations have not been tested at trial, and the defendants are presumed innocent.
The defendants
The Justice Department named Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a citizen of Iran and Iraq; Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian citizen; and Mohammed Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national. Al-Saadi, 32, is already jailed in New York on terrorism charges. Only al-Saadi is in U.S. custody. Mohajeri and al-Hassani are not. Prosecutors did not disclose their whereabouts. The indictment describes the three as acting on behalf of Iran-aligned networks designated by the U.S. as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and contains eight counts. It alleges involvement in plots supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the pro-Iranian group Kataib Hezbollah.
The Fairford allegations
According to the indictment, al-Hassani, operating from Iran, began paying associates in Britain in August to film the perimeter of RAF Fairford. Prosecutors say that on Sept. 26 he directed people to drive three vans toward the base. The vans allegedly carried barrels of fuel. UK authorities recovered all three vans the following day. The base housed U.S. military aircraft and personnel at the time in support of the war in Iran.
Prosecutors say al-Saadi was detained abroad in May and brought to the U.S., and kept directing the network from jail by relaying coded messages through phone calls with relatives in Iraq. Those calls allegedly came in the days before the Fairford plot.
Broader campaign
The Justice Department linked the men to 18 attacks and attempted attacks, including incidents in London, Amsterdam and Paris. The targets included synagogues, Jewish organizations, ambulances and an Israeli embassy, and the attacks included the stabbing of two Jewish men in London. Prosecutors say a group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya claimed about 18 attacks last spring, and was a front for Kata’ib Hezbollah. Al-Saadi pleaded not guilty in June to earlier charges that he plotted at least 18 attacks in Europe.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said the defendants helped orchestrate a campaign of terror on behalf of Iran-affiliated terrorist organizations, targeting Jewish communities in Europe and the U.S. as well as RAF Fairford. He added that the threat from Iran and its proxies is real.
Response and related developments
Iran has strongly denied any involvement in the Fairford incident, and there was no immediate comment on the new charges. The U.S. withdrew all of its B-1 bombers from Fairford days after the incident. Six men initially arrested in the UK were released on bail, and two were later re-arrested on suspicion of assisting Iran’s intelligence service. UK police charged two British men last month with national security offenses related to the incident.
Because only al-Saadi is in custody, the case against the other two depends on whether they can be located, arrested or extradited.
