Indictment sheds light on alleged Iran-backed plots across U.S. and Europe

US prosecutors say an Iran-linked operative directed a plot from a New York detention centre to attack a US air base in England. The allegations highlight how authorities say Iran and allied groups use people and networks in Europe to target US interests, as Iran has also threatened to strike American bases outside the Gulf if US air strikes resume.

The indictment alleges that Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, accused of ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iraq-based Kataib Hezbollah, arranged surveillance of RAF Fairford using vans posing as commercial vehicles. Prosecutors say plotters bought shrapnel and chemicals that could be used to make a bomb; the threat prompted the US to move B-1 bombers from the base in September. Al-Saadi was arrested in Turkey in August and extradited to the US, and is also accused of promoting 18 attacks in Europe and plotting against a New York synagogue.