US prosecutors charge Iranian operative allegedly responsible for UK air force base attack

US federal prosecutors have said that an Iranian operative jailed in New York was responsible for the foiled attack on a UK air force base where American B-1 bombers were stationed.

A new indictment alleged that Mohammad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian and Iraqi national, plotted while in custody and then transmitted plans – using coded messages in calls to his family – to two co-conspirators to buy large quantities of chemicals that could be used as explosives in an attack on the RAF Fairford base in September.

Al-Saadi, who was accused of being associated with Kata’ib Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was said to have planned the attack as retribution for the US war in Iran.

He had already been charged for his alleged links to 18 terrorist attacks in Europe and for allegedly planning to bomb a synagogue in New York as well, according to a statement by the southern district of New York.

He was already imprisoned when he began planning the attack, according to the indictment, which said he then transmitted his plans by using coded messages in calls to his family to pass on to Mohsen Mohajeri, an operative of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and another Iranian, Mohammad Ali al-Hassani.

Al-Hassani then tasked others with surveilling the Fairford RAF base and with procuring vans and barrels of fuel, and researching the purchase of chemical accelerants and metallic objects to be used as shrapnel, the indictment claimed.

Five men from London were arrested in the village of Whelford, near RAF Fairford, on 27 September on suspicion of explosives and terrorism offences, after a farmer reported vans blocking a road near the base while on her way back from a party.

RAF Fairford is the European home for US air force bombers and was used by the US during its bombing campaign against Iran. In July, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a statement noting RAF Fairford’s use by US bombers and saying any bases used by the US to attack Iran, including Fairford, were “legitimate targets”.

“As alleged, these defendants helped orchestrate a campaign of terror on behalf of terrorist organizations affiliated with Iran that targeted Jewish communities in Europe and the United States, and the British military base, RAF Fairford, housing American service members,” said the US attorney Jamie McDonald. “Even after one of their co-conspirators was arrested and placed in federal custody, the defendants allegedly continued coordinating terrorist activity through coded communications and a network of associates overseas.”

“The threat presented by Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups to America and our allies is not hypothetical – it is very real,” he added.