From the Guardian · · 1m 30s
US charges Iranian operative over RAF Fairford plot
Mohammad Dawood al-Saadi allegedly coordinated an attack on a British air base housing American bombers while imprisoned in New York.
In brief
Mohammad Dawood al-Saadi allegedly coordinated an attack on a British air base housing American bombers while imprisoned in New York. US prosecutors charged an Iranian operative jailed in New York with plotting an attack on RAF Fairford, a British base hosting American B-1 bombers, using coded family calls to direct…
Iranian operative charged from prison
US federal prosecutors charged Mohammad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian and Iraqi national jailed in New York, with plotting an attack on RAF Fairford, a British air force base where American B-1 bombers are stationed.
Coded messages from custody
While imprisoned, al-Saadi allegedly used coded messages in calls to his family to transmit attack plans to Mohsen Mohajeri, an operative of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, another Iranian.
Attack preparations alleged
Al-Hassani tasked others with surveilling RAF Fairford and procuring vans and barrels of fuel, and researching chemical accelerants and metallic objects to be used as shrapnel, the indictment claimed.
Five arrested near the base
Five men from London were arrested in the village of Whelford, near RAF Fairford, on twenty-seventh September on suspicion of explosives and terrorism offences after a farmer reported vans blocking a road near the base.
Retaliation for US war, prosecutors say
Al-Saadi, associated with Kata'ib Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, planned the attack as retribution for the US war in Iran.
The main idea
US prosecutors charged an Iranian operative jailed in New York with plotting an attack on RAF Fairford, a British base hosting American B-1 bombers, using coded family calls to direct co-conspirators.
