US Justice Department: Iran-backed group member helped plan attack on UK air base while in prison

A member of an Iran-backed group plotted to attack the RAF Fairford air base in Britain while detained in the US on criminal charges, the US Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Iraqi national Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi attempted to pass coded messages to two other alleged Iran-backed operatives through phone calls to immediate family members from jail in New York, prosecutors said.

Al-Saadi had previously pleaded not guilty to eight criminal counts including conspiracy to provide material support to Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group which the US considers a terrorist organization.

A lawyer for Al-Saadi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a court filing on October 14, Al-Saadi's lawyers said the prosecution's assertion that he was using coded language during phone calls with family was speculative and based on questionable translations from Arabic. They said there were banal explanations for conversations the prosecution flagged as concerning.

Burnham announces Fairford attack likely coordinated in Iran

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in October that a suspected plot targeting the base, which had been used by US bombers to carry out strikes on Iran, was "highly likely" to have been coordinated in Iran.