Three Men Indicted in Alleged RAF Fairford Bomb Plot
An eight-count superseding indictment in Manhattan ties two men in Iran and one prisoner in Brooklyn to a September attempt on a British base that houses American bombers.
The indictment is an allegation. The docket, the custody list, and one judge's November 4 ruling are facts.
A federal grand jury in Manhattan returned an eight-count superseding indictment on Tuesday, November 10, 2026. It charges three men with terrorism offenses tied to a September 2026 plot against Royal Air Force Fairford in the United Kingdom. The case is filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. It's assigned to United States District Judge Colleen McMahon. [U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of New York: Three Iranian-backed operatives indicted]
Prosecutors allege Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, Mohsen Mohajeri, and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani conspired for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kata'ib Hizballah, both designated foreign terrorist organizations, across nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks in Europe and the United States.
Only one defendant is in American custody. Al-Saadi, 32, a dual Iranian and Iraqi national, sits in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he's awaiting trial on terrorism charges filed on May 28, 2026, in case number 26 Cr. 220. He pleaded not guilty to those charges in June. Mohajeri, an Iranian national, and al-Hassani, an Iraqi national, were in Iran at the time of the Fairford plot and aren't in United States custody. An indictment is an allegation, and all three men are presumed innocent.
The Fairford allegations run on a calendar. In August 2026, according to the indictment, al-Hassani paid an individual to record video of the base's perimeter. On September 26, associates drove three vans carrying barrels of fuel toward the base. The base then housed United States military aircraft and personnel, including B-1 bombers. British police detained seven men after midnight on September 27. The vehicles held gasoline. They held no improvised explosive devices. [U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of New York: Three Iranian-backed operatives indicted]
Prosecutors allege al-Saadi coordinated from his cell. The indictment says he passed coded messages through third parties, using calls with relatives in Iraq to reach Mohajeri and al-Hassani in the days before the September attempt. The Justice Department moved in October to restrict his family calls to once a month on that basis.
The judge has already tested that claim once. In a ruling on November 4, 2026, Judge McMahon wrote that the government's argument about coded language in the family calls “is vague and does not appear to be linked to discrete criminal planning or conduct.” The coded-message allegation now sits inside an eight-count indictment that a grand jury returned anyway. Both documents are part of the same record.
The counts include conspiracy to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations, material support for acts of terrorism, and conspiracy to bomb a place of public use, a count that carries up to life in prison for all three men. “Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American servicemembers will be prosecuted by the United States government,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said. Iran has denied involvement in the suspected plot. [U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs: Three Iranian-backed operatives indicted]
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