Mo, Mo, & Mo: 3 Charged In Iran-Linked Plot Against British Airbase

A longtime operative of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Kata'ib Hizballah sitting in a New York jail used phone calls to his family in Iraq to pass coded messages to the men who allegedly orchestrated September's plot against RAF Fairford, the British air base that housed US bombers, federal prosecutors say.Armed police man road blocks around RAF Fairford on September 28, 2026 (Getty Images)An eight-count superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday in Manhattan charges Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national; Mohsen Mohajeri, 48, an Iranian operative of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, 35, an Iraqi national, with terrorism offenses tied to nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and the United States on behalf of Kata'ib Hizballah and the IRGC.Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi is also accused of being 'involved' in almost 20 attempted attacksThree days before the vans rolled toward Fairford, on or about Sept. 24, al-Saadi asked his family on a call from jail how "Ali" was doing, according to the Justice Department. Told that "Ali" had been moved to the "International Section," al-Saadi allegedly instructed them to "give him money so we can do it." Prosecutors identify "Ali" as al-Hassani."Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American servicemembers will be prosecuted by the United States government," Attorney General Todd Blanche said.A bomb squad robot is seen near suspected vans at RAF Fairford. Sky NewsVans, fuel and fake decalsAccording to the indictment, al-Hassani and Mohajeri were both in Iran during the plot and worked through a network of contacts in Britain. On Aug. 22, al-Hassani allegedly paid one person to surveil the base's perimeter and received videos of the area.In September, he allegedly tasked and paid several people to buy vans and barrels of fuel, research large quantities of potassium chloride and other chemical accelerants, and buy metal objects that could serve as shrapnel. At his urging, they had custom decals made so the vans looked like they belonged to a fuel delivery business and a swimming pool supply company.On Sept. 26, al-Hassani allegedly sent three vans, some later found to hold barrels of fuel, toward the base, staying in frequent contact with the drivers. At least two of them hit a security roadblock and were turned back, prosecutors say. British police recovered the three white vans in the early hours of Sept. 27 and arrested the occupants.The US then pulled its B-1 bombers out of Fairford, and British prosecutors last month charged two men under the National Security Act with assisting Iranian intelligence. On Tuesday, as we reported, the Pentagon moved tankers out of a second British base, RAF Mildenhall."Our old work"Al-Saadi was charged in May with planning and promoting about 18 attacks in Europe and attempting to bomb a synagogue in New York; he was arrested abroad on or about May 1. For roughly four months after his arrest, the Justice Department says, there were no further attacks attributable to the three men.Several suspects are arrested at gunpoint after explosives and chemicals were found in a van near RAF Fairford, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026But from jail, prosecutors say, he kept talking about "work," a term he regularly used for terrorist activity. In June and July calls with his mother and sister, he discussed Mohajeri under aliases including "Sayyid Abbas," said he owed him money and asked them to pass messages along. On one call he asked his sister, "What are they doing about all our old work?" She allegedly replied: "it isn't cancelled."Al-Saadi has pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges, and the Justice Department had already placed him under special administrative measures restricting his contacts to immediate family and lawyers, CNN reported from court records."Light it up like a Christmas tree"The European attacks were claimed by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, which prosecutors call a front for Kata'ib Hizballah. Of the 18 it claimed in spring 2026, seven were in the United Kingdom, more than any other European country, including arsons, explosives and the near-fatal stabbing of two Jewish men in London, one of them a dual US-British citizen.Some 85 homes within a 400-yard radius of the base were evacuated. Anadolu via Getty ImagesProsecutors say a video from about April 6 shows al-Hassani telling Mohajeri, in a room in Iraq with a map of London on a screen, "we need to get focused on London." Six attacks in and around London followed about a week later.On about April 17, the three men allegedly watched an attack live over FaceTime, projected on a large screen in front of the group's logo, while al-Hassani told the attacker to "light one in your hand" and "throw the fourth one." The next day, on a call with a man attacking a London synagogue, al-Hassani allegedly told him to "light it up like a Christmas tree" before he threw an improvised explosive device at the building."The threat presented by Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups to America and our allies is not hypothetical - it is very real," said US Attorney Jamie McDonald. The terrorist-organization support and terrorism-financing counts each carry up to 20 years in prison, and the attempted-terrorism and bombing-conspiracy counts up to life.