Key facts
- The 26-page US indictment accuses al-Saadi of passing coded messages to two associates in Iran from a New York jail.
- The indictment names Mohammed Ali al-Hassani, 35, an Iraqi who had lived in Britain, as one of the two associates.
- Mohsen Mohajeri is named as the second associate in the Hayi campaign of March and April, per the US.
- US prosecutors say al-Hassani directed a man by FaceTime to throw incendiary bottles at a Hendon building linked to charity Jewish Futures on April 17.
- Home secretary Shabana Mahmood said the Fairford incident was highly likely co-ordinated by a known individual based in Iran and almost certainly directed by the IRGC.
- Two Britons from London charged over Fairford await trial under the 2023 National Security Act and have yet to plead.
The US Department of Justice released an updated indictment on November 10 that names two men it says worked with Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, who was taken into US custody in May and is accused of directing attacks on American and Jewish targets in the UK and Europe on behalf of Iran.
The 26-page filing says al-Saadi, held in a New York jail, used family phone calls to pass coded messages to associates in Iran. On or about September 24 he asked after an associate named Ali, who family members said had been transferred to the International Section, as the FBI listened in, according to the indictment.
The US says Ali is Mohammed Ali al-Hassani, a 35-year-old Iraqi who had lived in Britain, and that within days his efforts came together in the incident in a Cotswold village next to RAF Fairford. Al-Hassani and Mohsen Mohajeri are named as al-Saadi's two associates in a campaign conducted by the group Hayi in March and April.
Prosecutors say a video shows Mohajeri telling al-Hassani on April 6 that they needed to get focused on London while looking at a map on a laptop, and that six attacks in the capital followed shortly after. In one case the three men are accused of directing a person in real time to attack premises linked to the educational charity Jewish Futures in Hendon, north London, on April 17. Video evidence recovered by US prosecutors shows al-Hassani telling the perpetrator to light a bottle and throw a fourth, according to the US.
Andy Burnham, the prime minister, told MPs in mid-October that the IRGC was almost certainly behind the Fairford incident. Home secretary Shabana Mahmood said the assessment was that it was highly likely co-ordinated by a known individual based in Iran and almost certainly directed by the IRGC. A fortnight later UK police charged two Britons from London, who await trial and have yet to plead.