Mohammad al-Saadi was already sitting in federal custody in New York when British authorities disrupted an alleged plot against a military base housing American troops.
Federal prosecutors now say he still helped coordinate with two alleged Iran-backed operatives from behind bars.
That allegation is at the center of an eight-count superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday in Manhattan. The case names al-Saadi, Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammed Ali al-Hassani and accuses the three men of supporting Kata’ib Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, both designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York says the defendants were involved in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and the United States. Prosecutors say the alleged campaign targeted Jewish communities, included a near-fatal stabbing of two Jewish men in London and later expanded to an alleged plot against RAF Fairford in England while American personnel were stationed there.
Authorities say the British-base plot was prevented. The indictment does not treat every incident in that headline number as a completed attack, and the allegations still must be proved in court.
But the new accusation is chilling: prosecutors say al-Saadi attempted to stay connected to the alleged network after the United States had already put him behind bars awaiting trial.
The case did not begin this week. In May, the Justice Department announced the original charges against al-Saadi after he was transferred to U.S. custody.
That indictment accused him of supporting the same two organizations and tied him to an alleged effort against a Manhattan synagogue.
The May case named one defendant. Tuesday’s filing adds Mohajeri, an Iranian national, and al-Hassani, an Iraqi national, and alleges that the three were part of the same broader network.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the new indictment reflects what he described as Iran’s determination to carry out attacks in Europe and the United States. His agency’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force and Washington Field Office worked the investigation with the Justice Department and British authorities.
For the military families and Jewish communities named in this case, that international cooperation is not an abstraction. Prosecutors are describing alleged threats against people at worship, civilians in European cities and American service members stationed overseas.
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The charges include conspiracies to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations and for acts of terrorism, attempted terrorism transcending national boundaries, conspiracy to bomb a place of public use and financing terrorism. Several counts carry potential maximum sentences of life in prison, but any sentence would be determined by a judge after conviction.
Al-Saadi remains in federal custody. Prosecutors say Mohajeri and al-Hassani were in Iran at the time of the alleged Fairford plot.
Tuesday’s announcement gives no update on their current whereabouts.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon has the case. All three defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Prosecutors have made an extraordinary claim: arresting one alleged operative did not end the danger. Now they will have to prove, in an American courtroom, exactly what role each defendant played.
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[ H/T WLT Report ]
