US charges three men over alleged Iran-linked RAF Fairford plot

The US Department of Justice unsealed an eight-count indictment on Tuesday charging three men it described as Iranian operatives over a series of alleged attacks in Europe and the United States, including an incident at RAF Fairford, the Gloucestershire airbase used by the US Air Force.

The three are Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national; Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national; and Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi citizen, according to the BBC. The department said one of them, held in a New York prison awaiting trial on earlier charges, sent coded messages from detention to help plan violence, and that the other two did the same from Iran.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the indictment showed "the determination of Iran to commit terrorist attacks in Europe and the US". He said the men were involved in nearly 20 attempted attacks in support of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi militia backed by Iran.

The DOJ said the attacks were carried out under the name of a group it called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya. Seven of 18 attacks claimed by the group in Europe in spring 2026 took place in Britain, the department said, including a near-fatal stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green, north London, in April. A suspect in that stabbing is due to stand trial next year.

The indictment alleges al-Hassani directed the RAF Fairford plot, paying an individual on 22 August to carry out surveillance of the base perimeter and later paying others to buy vans, fuel barrels and metal objects for shrapnel and to research chemical accelerants. The vehicles were given the appearance of fuel delivery and swimming pool supply businesses, the department said.

Three vans were driven toward the base on 26 September. Two met a security roadblock, according to the DOJ. A farmer returning from a party spotted the vans in the early hours of 27 September and called police, and a major incident was declared. Police found no explosives in the vans but seized petrol. Seven men were arrested in Britain, and two British nationals appeared in court last month.

Iran denies involvement. The Iranian embassy in London said it "categorically rejects and strongly condemns" what it called unfounded and malicious speculation linking Iran to the incident.

The US withdrew its bombers from Fairford after the incident. President Donald Trump cited "some threats" to the base. In July, Iran said any base used for aggression against Iranian territory was a legitimate target.