3 Iran-backed operatives indicted for alleged role in terror plots

Résumé détaillé

Three Iran-linked operatives are accused of plotting a terrorist attack at an air base in the U.K. and attempting over a dozen attacks in the U.S. and Europe.

Three Iran-backed operatives have been charged with plotting a terrorist attack at a British Royal Air Force base in the United Kingdom where U.S. troops are stationed, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday.

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi was indicted in May on federal charges of conspiracy to provide material support to Iran-backed terrorist organizations, including Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kata'ib Hizballah. He is accused in an eight-count superseding indictment made public Tuesday of attempting to coordinate with two other operatives to attack the British Royal Air Force base in the U.K. in September.

Al-Saadi is currently in federal custody in New York. In Tuesday's filing, the Justice Department alleged that he had plotted the air base attack with Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national, and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national, by "passing them coded messages through third parties."

Mohajeri and al-Hassani are not in custody, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

Federal prosecutors allege that beginning in August, Al-Saadi "directed and paid" associates in the United Kingdom to prepare for and arrange an attack at RAF Fairford, including directing an unnamed individual to conduct surveillance at the air base. Al-Saadi then allegedly later paid multiple unnamed people to organize vans and barrels of fuel, and to research chemical accelerants and buy metal to be used as shrapnel for a potential attack.

The indictment alleges that three individuals would then drive the vans, filled with fuel, to RAF Fairford, where they would explode.

Prosecutors say Al-Saadi told the individuals to mark the vans with custom decals to disguise themselves as a fuel delivery or pool supply business and directed his family members to pass messages to his co-conspirators.

In one phone call with his sister from July, Al-Saadi asked his sister to pass on messages to Mohajeri about "work," referring to terrorist activity, and asked if some of…

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