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WASHINGTON — An Iran-backed operative orchestrated a foiled terror plot targeting US military aircraft in England from an American prison cell — using “coded messages” in phone calls to relatives in Iraq, according to a federal indictment secured Tuesday.
Mohammad al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi citizen, was arrested in Turkey in May and transferred to the US to face charges related to almost 20 other terrorist attacks in Europe. He used his time behind bars to plot against US forces at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, according to the superseding indictment in the Southern District of New York.
British police arrested, and then released on bail, seven men following the RAF Fairford security scare and the case has until now remained mired in mystery — though President Trump and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham have both publicly said they believe Tehran is behind the threat.
The new indictment says that al-Saadi, working with two codefendants based in Iran, used phone calls with his mother and sister to pass messages to the other suspects, Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammad al-Hassani.
All three men are believed to be part of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps(IRGC)-linked terror network.
In June and July, prosecutors allege that al-Saadi told his mother and sister that he owed money to Mohajeri and asked them to relay messages about “work.”
“What are they doing about all our old work?” he allegedly asked his sister, requesting an update on whether that work had been canceled or paused.
His sister allegedly informed him that “it isn’t canceled.”
Three days before the Sept. 27 bust by British police, al-Saadi allegedly asked his family about al-Hassani and was told that his comrade was transferred to the “International Section.”
He then told his relatives to “give him [al-Hassani] money so we can do it,” putting in motion the attempted attack, the indictment alleges.
Al-Hassani allegedly had laid the groundwork ahead of the order.
In August, he “directed and paid associates in the United Kingdom to conduct preparatory steps and arrange logistics” including surveillance of the air base, according to the court papers.
The same alleged co-conspirator paid accomplices to acquire vans, barrels of fuel and chemical accelerants, including potassium chloride, and metal for use as bomb shrapnel — with the vans decorated to resemble fuel and swimming pool business vans, authorities allege.
Three vehicles were allegedly driven to RAF Fairford on Sept. 26. Two were stopped at a roadblock and all three were eventually seized by British authorities the following day.
Trump condemned British officials for releasing the seven alleged accomplices on bail and the US military later moved its bombers to other air bases to limit risk.
