The Justice Department charged Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian and Iraqi national identified by prosecutors as a Kataeb Hezbollah commander; Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national; and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national. Al-Saadi, who was charged in New York on May 28 for involvement in planning and promoting about 18 attacks in Europe and for attempting to bomb a synagogue in New York, is the only one of the three in US custody. The Justice Department says he sent coded messages through family members by phone from jail to help al-Hassani and Mohajeri in Iran and Iraq with future attacks.
According to court filings, the network directed nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks against European Jewish communities following the outbreak of the Iran war, as well as an attempted bombing of a New York synagogue. In April, conspirators orchestrated the near-fatal stabbing of two Jewish men in London. During that same month, al-Saadi, al-Hassani, and Mohajeri participated in a live FaceTime video call to monitor an attacker firebombing a London Jewish charity, watching the assault projected onto a large screen while al-Hassani gave direct operational instructions. A day later, al-Hassani held a video call directing an assailant to "light it up like a Christmas tree" before the attacker threw an explosive device at a London synagogue. After the attacks, the network allegedly distributed the footage as propaganda, the indictment said. While imprisoned in New York, al-Saadi allegedly attempted to coordinate attacks with the other two defendants through coded messages with relatives to direct that money be passed along to others who could carry out attacks.
The alleged plots involved an attempted attack on RAF Fairford, a British Royal Air Force base where American forces were stationed. Five men were detained after midnight on September 27 on suspected explosives and terrorism offenses after three suspicious vans were spotted traveling toward the base, and a sixth suspect, a British-Iranian dual national, was arrested several days later. While Iran denied involvement in the incident, the arrests prompted the United States to withdraw its bombers that had been stationed there and redeploy them to home bases in the United States.
The charges include conspiring to provide material support to Kataeb Hezbollah, conspiring to provide material support for acts of terrorism, conspiring to bomb a place of public use, and financing terrorism, with several counts carrying maximum penalties of life imprisonment. Both Kataeb Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are designated foreign terrorist organizations by the United States government.