US charges three ‘Iranian operatives’ over UK airbase plot

The US Justice Department on Tuesday announced charges against three men it described as “Iranian operatives” over their role in an alleged terrorist plot at Britain’s RAF Fairford airbase.

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani were charged in relation to the September incident at the base, which has been used by the US military in its operations against Iran.

Police were called to the Fairford site in southwest England after a local farmer reported seeing a group of men with several white vans engaged in “suspicious” activity.

A US charging document states that Al-Hassani, 35, an Iraqi national, directed unnamed individuals to drive to the base in the vans, some of which contained barrels of fuel.

It claims that he earlier paid the group to buy metallic objects that could be used as shrapnel, and to disguise the vehicles as being engaged in fuel delivery services.

Al-Saadi, 32, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national already jailed in New York on terrorism charges, allegedly passed coded messages ahead of the plot to Al-Hassani and Mohajeri, 48, an Iranian national.

The US abruptly withdrew all its B-1 bombers from the Royal Air Force (RAF) site following the incident.

“Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American servicemembers will be prosecuted by the United States government,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche.

The trio were charged in an eight-count indictment that alleges their involvement in several other plots in support of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and pro-Iranian group Kataeb Hezbollah.