US charges three men over alleged RAF Fairford terror plot
The US Justice Department on Tuesday charged three men it described as "Iranian operatives" over an alleged terrorist plot at Britain's RAF Fairford airbase in September.
The defendants are Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national already jailed in New York on terrorism charges; Mohsen Mohajeri, 48, an Iranian national; and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, 35, an Iraqi national.
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 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 allegedly passed coded messages to Al-Hassani and Mohajeri to coordinate ahead of the plot.
The United States withdrew all its B-1 bombers from the base after the incident.
"Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American servicemembers will be prosecuted by the United States government," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Tuesday.
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. The counts include conspiracy to provide material support to terrorist groups, conspiring and providing material support for acts of terrorism, and conspiring to bomb a place of public use. Al-Saadi is additionally charged with attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, and attempted destruction of property by means of fire or explosive.
UK police last month charged two British men with national security offenses related to the RAF Fairford incident. One was charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, believed to be in Iran, and another with entering a prohibited place for a purpose "prejudicial" to the UK.
Flight-tracking data showed on Tuesday that the US military had removed at least a dozen aircraft from a second British airbase, RAF Mildenhall, following what the Wall Street Journal said was a threat from Iran.
