New York inmate allegedly used coded family calls to plot RAF Fairford attack

Detailed summary

A US indictment alleges an Iran-linked detainee used coded family calls to advance an RAF Fairford attack. The case underscores concerns over Tehran-backed networks targeting US, British and Jewish interests.

A man jailed in New York on terrorism charges used coded calls with his family to pass messages to Iranian operatives allegedly planning an attack on a British air base used by the US Air Force, according to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.

The charges provide fresh details about an alleged Iran-backed network accused of plotting nearly 20 attacks against Jewish communities in Europe and the United States, as well as RAF Fairford in western England. The case came to light after suspicious vans were seen travelling towards the base on September 27.

Prosecutors accused Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, of helping plan an attack on RAF Fairford despite being in custody since May. They said he used coded language during monitored phone and video calls with his mother and sister in Iraq to encourage associates to carry out the bombing.

Two other men, Iranian national Mohsen Mohajeri and Iraqi national Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, have also been charged in the case. Neither is in US custody.

Manhattan US Attorney Jamie McDonald said: "These defendants helped orchestrate a campaign of terror on behalf of terrorist organisations affiliated with Iran that targeted Jewish communities in Europe and the United States, and the British military base, RAF Fairford, housing American service members."

"The threat presented by Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups to America and our allies is not hypothetical — it is very real," McDonald said. Attorney General Todd Blanche said: "Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American service members will be prosecuted by the United States government."

Seven men arrested in the United Kingdom in connection with the incident at RAF Fairford were released on bail. One was later rearrested on suspicion of assisting Iran's intelligence service and charged, along with another man, under the National Security Act, British authorities said.

British…

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