US Indicts Three Over Alleged Iran-Backed Plot on RAF Fairford as London Jury Convicts Two Iranians of Spying

The Justice Department announced Tuesday, Nov. 10, an eight-count superseding indictment against three men it says supported Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iraqi militia Kata'ib Hizballah. Both groups are U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations.

Two days later, on Thursday, Nov. 12, a jury at Woolwich Crown Court in London convicted two Iranian men of spying on journalists and critics of the Iranian government. The cases are separate. Both point to Iranian-linked operations on Western soil.

The indictment

The defendants are Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national; Mohsen Mohajeri, 48, an Iranian; and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, 35, an Iraqi. The indictment adds to a May indictment against al-Saadi alone.

Prosecutors allege the three were involved in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and the United States. The indictment charges al-Saadi as a longtime operative in connection with 18 attacks in Europe and an attempt to bomb a synagogue in New York. Among the March and April attacks it describes is one on a Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam.

The charges include conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, conspiring to bomb a place of public use, attempted destruction of property by fire or explosive, and financing terrorism. They are allegations. None of the three has been tried.

U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said the defendants "helped orchestrate a campaign of terror" targeting Jewish communities in Europe and the United States, and RAF Fairford. Attorney General Todd Blanche said anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American service members "will be prosecuted by the United States government."

The Fairford plot

RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire was hosting roughly a dozen U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers and their crews engaged in the Iran war when police stopped suspicious vehicles heading toward the base on Sept. 27.

Prosecutors allege al-Hassani coordinated the operation from Iran. They say he recruited and paid associates in Britain to conduct surveillance, acquire vehicles and prepare materials. The indictment alleges three vans were loaded with barrels of fuel, chemical accelerants and metal objects that could serve as shrapnel. Custom decals were meant to pass the vans off as belonging to a fuel delivery company and a swimming pool supply business.

On Sept. 26, according to the indictment, al-Hassani directed the vans toward the base and communicated with the drivers as they approached. At least two hit a security checkpoint and could not follow their routes. British authorities recovered all three vans in the early hours of Sept. 27 and arrested the occupants.

UK authorities later charged two of the men. Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim, 24, a British national, faces a charge of engaging in conduct likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service, which UK authorities believe to be Iran. Nouman Essghir, 24, a dual British-Iranian citizen, is charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose harmful to the safety or interests of the UK. The American aircraft were moved off the base after the plot was foiled.

Orders from a New York jail

The indictment alleges that al-Saadi kept directing the network from custody. He was arrested in Turkey in May and transferred to the United States. Prosecutors say that while held in New York awaiting trial, he used phone calls with his mother and sister in Iraq to pass coded messages to Mohajeri and al-Hassani.

In one call, the indictment says, he asked whether the group's earlier "work" had been canceled or just paused. His sister allegedly answered, "it isn't cancelled." Prosecutors say "work" meant terrorist activity.

On Sept. 24, three days before the vans were recovered, al-Saadi allegedly told his family to "give him money so we can do it," referring to al-Hassani.

According to the Justice Department, the three belong to a new IRGC-linked group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, or HAYI, which claimed responsibility for a string of attacks in Britain and Europe.

The London convictions

Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were found guilty of engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service. Prosecutors said they surveilled journalists and other critics of Tehran between August 2024 and March 2025, visiting locations tied to their targets, taking photographs and video, and doing online research.

The targets included journalists at Iran International, the London-based Persian-language outlet critical of the Iranian government, and a prominent figure associated with UK Lawyers for Israel.

Sepahvand was also convicted of preparatory conduct intended to commit serious violence against a person in Britain. Manesh was acquitted of that charge, and a third defendant was cleared of all charges. British authorities called these the first convictions of Iranian nationals under the National Security Act 2023. Iran has denied involvement.

Beyond Britain

The verdicts come amid other warnings. France has accused the IRGC of unprecedented cyberattacks, and a senior UAE official has warned of Iranian sleeper cells abroad. The Trump administration continues economic pressure on Tehran while leaving the door open to diplomatic talks. The administration has not said how Iranian operations in Europe and the United States would figure in any such talks.

Al-Saadi is in U.S. custody in New York. Mohajeri and al-Hassani, prosecutors say, directed the Fairford operation from inside Iran, which leaves them far outside the reach of a U.S. courtroom.