The US Department of Justice has announced charges against three Iran-backed operatives it alleges were involved in a string of plots in the United States and Europe. The department said Iranian agents most recently orchestrated a terrorist plot at an air force base in the United Kingdom, in connection with a major incident on 27 September near RAF Fairford, where US armed forces are stationed. The three men are accused of involvement in 18 attacks and attempted attacks, including in London, Amsterdam and Paris, and the DOJ says they acted in the name of a group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, or HAYI. The charges are allegations set out in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
The scale of what prosecutors describe is considerable. The DOJ said that of 18 terrorist attacks in the spring of 2026 for which HAYI claimed responsibility in Europe, seven took place in the United Kingdom, involving arsons, explosives and, in one instance, a near-fatal stabbing in London of two Jewish men, including a dual US-British citizen. Two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, north London, in April. The indictment also details an arson attack on a building previously used by the Jewish charity Jewish Futures in Hendon on 17 April, with Mohammad Ali al-Hassani allegedly directing an individual over FaceTime, and an arson attack the next day on Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow. A 17-year-old boy pleaded guilty to the synagogue attack earlier this year. The indictment further links the men to attacks on the Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam on 15 March and the Bank of America building in Paris on 28 March.
There are important limits on what is known. The charges are allegations that have not been tested in court, and the three accused are in very different positions. Iranian Mohsen Mohajeri and Iraqi national al-Hassani were allegedly both in Iran at the time of the Fairford incident, and two sources told the BBC's US partner CBS News that they are not in US custody. The third, dual Iranian-Iraqi citizen Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, is in a New York prison awaiting trial on previous charges after being arrested in August, and the indictment says he coordinated with the pair through third parties. Seven men have been arrested in the UK over the Fairford incident, and none has been convicted on the basis of the reporting. A suspect in the Golders Green stabbing is due to stand trial next year, so key facts remain to be established by the courts.
The case matters for the security of Europe and for its Jewish communities, who were the targets of several of the alleged attacks. It also reaches military sites, since RAF Fairford hosts US forces and a major incident was declared there after suspicious vans were reported near the base. The indictment alleges that some of the attacks were directed remotely over video calls, and that the targets ranged from synagogues and a Jewish charity to bank buildings in Amsterdam and Paris. The DOJ's account links the operatives to attacks in two countries beyond the UK in a single year, which is why the case is likely to be followed closely by security services across the continent.
The Justice Department has presented a detailed case linking Iran-backed operatives to a wave of attacks across Europe. Two of the three accused are outside US custody, and nothing has yet been proved in court. The coming proceedings will show how much of the indictment can be sustained.
