Key facts
- The eight-count superseding indictment charges Al-Saadi, Mohajeri and Al-Hassani with terrorism-related offenses tied to Iran's IRGC and Kata'ib Hezbollah.
- Prosecutors allege Al-Saadi used coded family phone calls from a New York jail to relay instructions about 'work,' a term they say he used for attacks.
- Al-Hassani allegedly ordered surveillance of RAF Fairford in August and paid for video of the base perimeter, per the indictment.
- Associates obtained three vans and fuel barrels, researched chemical accelerants and disguised the vans with commercial decals, prosecutors said.
- Attorney General Todd Blanche said anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a base housing American service members will be prosecuted.
- Iran has denied any role in the suspected plot, and a lawyer for Al-Saadi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US Justice Department said on November 10, 2026, that a member of an Iran-backed militia plotted to attack RAF Fairford in Britain while detained in the US on criminal charges. A superseding indictment unsealed in New York charges Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammad Ali Al-Hassani with terrorism-related offenses tied to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kata'ib Hezbollah, which the US considers a terrorist organization.
Prosecutors allege Al-Saadi, an Iraqi national held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, used coded phone calls to family members in Iraq to pass instructions and transfer money in support of the plot. In one July call cited in court documents, he asked his sister whether their 'old work' had been canceled or paused, and she replied that it was not canceled, according to prosecutors, who said he had previously used the term to describe attacks.
According to the indictment, Al-Hassani directed the initial steps, ordering surveillance of RAF Fairford in August and paying one person to record video of the base perimeter. Associates later obtained three vans and barrels of fuel, researched chemical accelerants and bought metal objects that could serve as shrapnel, prosecutors said. They disguised the vans with commercial decals to resemble fuel delivery and swimming pool supply vehicles.
On September 26, Al-Hassani allegedly directed associates to drive the three vans toward the base. At least two encountered a security roadblock and could not proceed, and British authorities recovered all three vehicles and arrested their occupants the following morning, per the indictment. CNN reported that British police arrested seven men in September and later released them on stringent conditions after no explosives were found; several were rearrested in late October.