US indicts three men in plot to attack RAF Fairford
Prosecutors say the suspects coordinated a September incident involving fuel vans at the airbase, part of a wider network of attacks across Europe and Canada.
By Alexei Brooks ·
A white van sat near a fence line in southwest England in September, its driver unaware that barrels of fuel were stacked in the back.
The United States Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that three men have been charged with planning and directing the incident at RAF Fairford, an airbase that housed American military aircraft. The department described the suspects as Iranian operatives. One of them is already in custody in New York.
Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, a 35-year-old Iraqi national, is alleged to have directed the operation. Prosecutors said he paid individuals to purchase metallic objects that could serve as shrapnel. He also instructed them to disguise their vehicles as fuel delivery trucks before driving them to the base. A local farmer called police after seeing a group of men with several white vans engaging in suspicious activity on the site.
The indictment identifies Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, and Mohsen Mohajeri, 48, as co-conspirators. Al-Saadi, who holds dual Iranian and Iraqi nationality, is alleged to have sent coded messages to the other two men to coordinate the plot. He has been in US custody since May, when he was first charged with directing attacks against US and Israeli interests. Mohajeri, an Iranian national, has not been located, and prosecutors did not disclose where the other two men are currently held.
The Fairford incident is one of several plots detailed in the eight-count indictment. The charges allege the trio supported the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the pro-Iranian group Kataeb Hezbollah. The document links them to at least 18 terrorist attacks in Europe and two in Canada. These included a non-fatal stabbing of two Jewish men in London in April and arson attacks on synagogues and schools in Amsterdam and Munich.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that anyone planning a terrorist attack on a base housing American servicemembers would be prosecuted. "Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American servicemembers will be prosecuted by the United States government," Blanche said. The charges include conspiracy to provide material support to terrorist groups and conspiracy to bomb a place of public use. Al-Saadi faces additional charges for attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.
Following the September incident, the United States withdrew all B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford. Last month, UK police charged two British men with national security offenses related to the same event. One was charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service believed to be Iran, while the other was charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK.
On Tuesday, flight-tracking data showed that the US military removed at least a dozen aircraft from RAF Mildenhall. The Wall Street Journal reported this move followed a threat from Iran. The new indictment adds the Fairford plot to Al-Saadi's existing charges and formally brings al-Hassani and Mohajeri into the case.
