US Justice Department Indicts Three Men in RAF Fairford Terror Plot
Three men described as Iranian operatives have been charged with directing a September attack on a British airbase housing US military assets.
By Lorenzo Evans ·
The United States Justice Department announced on Tuesday that it has formally charged three men with orchestrating a terrorist plot targeting RAF Fairford, a military airbase in southwest England. The suspects, identified as Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, Mohsen Mohajeri, and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, are described by prosecutors as Iranian operatives who allegedly coordinated the September incident. The base serves as a critical hub for US military operations and housed significant personnel and aircraft at the time of the event.
According to the charging documents, the plot involved the use of several white vans to approach the airbase. One of the suspects, 35-year-old Iraqi national Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, is accused of directing unnamed individuals to drive these vehicles to the site. Prosecutors stated that some of the vans contained barrels of fuel. Al-Hassani allegedly paid the group to purchase metallic objects intended to be used as shrapnel and instructed them to disguise the vehicles to appear as part of a fuel delivery service.
The incident came to light when a local farmer contacted police after observing a group of men engaging in suspicious activity with the white vans near the base. Al-Saadi, a 32-year-old dual Iranian-Iraqi national, is believed to have played a key coordinating role by passing coded messages to Al-Hassani and Mohajeri, a 48-year-old Iranian national. Al-Saadi is already in US custody in New York, where he has been jailed since May on separate terrorism charges.
Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a statement emphasizing the US commitment to prosecuting threats against its forces. He noted that anyone planning a terrorist attack on a military base housing American servicemembers would face prosecution by the US government. The indictment consists of eight counts, alleging that the three men conspired to provide material support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kataeb Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian group. The charges also include conspiracy to bomb a place of public use and providing material support for acts of terrorism.
In May, US authorities first detailed charges against Al-Saadi, accusing him of directing attacks on US and Israeli interests in retaliation for the US-Israeli war against Iran. He and his associates were alleged to have planned and claimed responsibility for at least 18 terrorist attacks in Europe and two in Canada. These incidents included the non-fatal stabbing of two Jewish men in London in April, as well as a series of arson attacks targeting synagogues, Israeli businesses, and Jewish schools in cities such as Amsterdam and Munich.
The new indictment adds Al-Saadi's role in the RAF Fairford incident and formally includes Al-Hassani and Mohajeri in the case, though prosecutors have not yet disclosed their current locations. Al-Saadi faces additional specific charges for attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries and the attempted destruction of property by fire or explosive. The US military withdrew all B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford days after the September incident occurred.
In related developments, UK police charged two British men last month with national security offenses linked to the same incident. One man was charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, which is believed to be in Iran, while the other was charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose deemed prejudicial to the UK. Additionally, flight-tracking data revealed on Tuesday that the US military had removed at least a dozen aircraft from RAF Mildenhall, another British airbase, following a reported threat from Iran.
The charges mark a significant escalation in the legal response to the alleged plot, connecting the September event at RAF Fairford to a broader network of attacks across the globe. The US government continues to press its case against the suspects, aiming to hold them accountable for their alleged coordination and execution of the plan to strike a key military installation.
