Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged three men over the RAF Fairford plot. That was a September attempt to drive fuel-laden vans to a British air base that housed US military aircraft and personnel. One defendant, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, was already in a New York jail at the time. The Justice Department says he helped steer the plot with coded messages passed through his family.
These are allegations. The Justice Department’s announcement on Tuesday, Nov. 10, says every defendant is “presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” No one has faced trial in the case.
A new indictment in an old case
This is not a fresh prosecution.
It is an eight-count superseding indictment, case S1 26 Cr. 220, in the federal court for the Southern District of New York. That is the same case in which al-Saadi was first indicted in May. A grand jury foreperson dated the signed indictment Nov. 10, 2026.
Prosecutors call al-Saadi a longtime operative of Kata’ib Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The US government lists both as foreign terrorist organizations. The May case accused him of helping plan about 18 attacks in Europe and trying to target a synagogue in New York.
The new filing keeps that conduct and adds the Fairford plot. It also adds two co-defendants.
Mohsen Mohajeri, 48, is an Iranian whom the department calls an IRGC operative. Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, 35, is an Iraqi national. Both were in Iran at the time of the Fairford plot, the indictment says.
The stakes are high. Two counts carry a maximum of life in prison: attempted terrorism transcending national boundaries, and conspiracy to bomb a place of public use. Four more carry up to 20 years each, according to the department’s charge chart.
What prosecutors say happened at Fairford
According to the indictment, al-Hassani ran the operation from Iran through contacts in Britain. On Aug. 22 he allegedly paid one person, called Individual-1, to film the base perimeter.
In September he allegedly paid others to buy vans and fuel barrels. They also researched chemical accelerants and bought metal objects that could serve as shrapnel, prosecutors say. At his urging, the department says, the group put fake decals on the vans for a fuel delivery firm and a pool supply company.
On Sept. 26, prosecutors say, al-Hassani directed three vans toward the base and kept in close contact with the drivers. At least two hit a security roadblock and could not take their planned route. British police recovered the three white vans early on Sept. 27 and arrested the people inside.
The British court record adds detail the US release leaves out.
At a London hearing on Oct. 27, prosecutors said each van held a metal oil drum and two drums contained petrol. Police found no explosives, Jewish News and PA reported. Prosecutor Louise Gray said a message then arrived saying “there was a bomb in the vehicles.” One of the men called the police.
RAF Fairford is a British base that US Air Force bombers use on rotation. Air Force photo records show B-52s from North Dakota arriving there in February 2025. After the September incident, the Pentagon moved about a dozen B-1 bombers off the base. The Washington Post reported that move in a story carried by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The coded calls from a Brooklyn jail
The most unusual allegation concerns al-Saadi. He has been in federal custody since May. In June, AP reported he was in solitary confinement at a federal lockup in Brooklyn. Prosecutors say he used phone calls with his mother and sister in Iraq to pass messages to his co-defendants.
In June and July, the department says, the family called Mohajeri by aliases such as “Sayyid Abbas.” Al-Saadi asked his sister, “What are they doing about all our old work?” She replied that “it isn’t cancelled.” Prosecutors say “work” was his usual word for terrorist activity. On Sept. 24, they allege, he asked how “Ali” was doing. His family said Ali had moved to the “International Section.” He then told them to “give him money so we can do it.”
The vans set off two days later.
Prosecutors in London have separately said a handler known as “Ali” directed the drivers, and that police believe he is abroad and working for Iran. The US filing says Individual-1 called al-Hassani “Ali.” Neither the Justice Department nor British prosecutors have said whether the two are the same person.
Al-Saadi’s lawyers have fought his jail restrictions. They wrote to Judge Colleen McMahon that the limits on his communications “strained the attorney-client relationship.” They also sought a conference on his wish to represent himself, The National reported on Nov. 6. His public defender did not answer a request for comment on the new charges, The Epoch Times reported. When he pleaded not guilty in June, al-Saadi told the court, “I’m a prisoner of war.”
Who’s charged, with what, and where the case stands
We built this table from the department’s release and charge chart and the reporting linked in each row. It includes the two men charged separately in Britain.
| Defendant | Nationality, location | Charges | Custody | Next court date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32 | Iraqi-Iranian; jailed in New York (DOJ) | All 8 US counts (DOJ) | US custody since May; pleaded not guilty to May charges (AP) | Not announced |
| Mohsen Mohajeri, 48 | Iranian; in Iran at time of plot (DOJ) | 6 counts, including bombing conspiracy and terrorism financing (DOJ) | Whereabouts not disclosed (AFP) | None |
| Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, 35 | Iraqi; in Iran at time of plot (DOJ) | Same 6 counts (DOJ) | Whereabouts not disclosed (AFP) | None |
| Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24 (UK) | British-Iranian; London (Al Jazeera) | Assisting a foreign intelligence service (Al Jazeera) | Bail (PA) | Old Bailey, Nov. 20 (PA) |
| Nouman Essghir, 24 (UK) | British; London (Al Jazeera) | Entering a prohibited place (Al Jazeera) | In custody (PA) | Old Bailey, Nov. 20 (PA) |
Bessent’s move and the wider threat picture
The charges came the same day as reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had moved to a military base after Iranian threats. The New York Times reported it first and Reuters followed, CBS News noted. A Treasury spokesperson told the Times that Bessent “will not be deterred by the Iranian regime’s threats.” The Times said the severity of the threats was unclear. None of the reports we read tied them to the Fairford case.
Last month, intelligence chief Jay Clayton warned that Iranian plots against Americans abroad had reached “advanced stages,” as we reported. US forces then struck Iran’s Qeshm Island late on Nov. 2, in a war that has cost the US $47 billion. In Britain, officials including Prime Minister Andy Burnham have cited “strong indications” that Iran played a role at Fairford, the Post reported.
Tehran denies it. We found no UK government comment on the US charges by Wednesday morning.
Prosecutors have not said where Mohajeri and al-Hassani are, so neither is likely to reach a Manhattan courtroom soon. The next fixed date is Nov. 20, when Abdulkarim and Essghir are due at the Old Bailey in London.
