Key facts
- The superseding indictment adds Mohsen Mohajeri, described as an IRGC operative, and Mohammed Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi former resident of Britain, to the existing case against Mohammad al-Saadi.
- Mohammad al-Saadi has been jailed in New York since May following his detention in Turkey, while Mohajeri and al-Hassani remain at large and are believed to be in Iran.
- Two days prior, al-Hassani allegedly directed an arson attack against Iran International, a London media outlet targeted multiple times by the Iranian regime.
- Federal prosecutors stated that the network claimed roughly 18 attacks or attempted operations throughout Europe from March to April, starting days after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment on Nov. 10, 2026, charging three men with planning attacks across Europe and the United States for the Iran-backed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kataib Hezbollah.
Prosecutors added two men to the case: Mohsen Mohajeri, described as an IRGC operative, and Mohammed Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi who formerly lived in Britain. They join Mohammad al-Saadi, who has been jailed in New York since May 2026 after his detention in Turkey; Mohajeri and al-Hassani remain at large and are believed to be in Iran.
The indictment describes attacks on synagogues in Belgium, the Netherlands and London, on American banking sites in Amsterdam and Paris, and on a London stabbing that left two Jewish men with serious injuries. Prosecutors say al-Hassani directed an April arson at a Jewish charity building in London over FaceTime, telling the attacker to light items and throw a fourth one, and the next day urged the attacker to illuminate a London synagogue like a Christmas tree.
Two days before the charity arson, al-Hassani allegedly directed an arson attack on Iran International, a London media outlet repeatedly targeted by Iran. Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, or HAYI, claimed responsibility for roughly 18 attacks or attempted operations across Europe from March to April; prosecutors characterize it as a front for Kataib Hezbollah and the IRGC. HAYI also asserted that it aimed drones with radioactive material at the Israeli Embassy in London, though police found no hazardous substances.
The indictment also details a thwarted September assault on RAF Fairford, the British air base housing U.S. military aircraft and personnel. Prosecutors say the 35-year-old al-Hassani oversaw reconnaissance, logistics and vehicle procurement, paid someone in August to film the perimeter, and ordered three vans toward the base on September 27. Associates bought vans, fuel and metal objects that could serve as shrapnel and researched potassium chloride. Police stopped vans near the base, found petrol but no explosives, and released seven people on bail; British authorities arrested six men and one dual Iranian-British national, and Iran denied involvement.
Prosecutors say al-Saadi financed a planned Manhattan synagogue attack with about $3,000 in cryptocurrency paid to an undercover officer in April. The indictment also accuses the three men of an explosives attack in March on the Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam. Al-Saadi received footage from a synagogue bombing in Liège, Belgium, over Telegram.
Investigators built much of the case from an iPhone belonging to al-Saadi that FBI agents took after his May 2026 detention in Turkey. The device held FaceTime recordings, raw attack videos and messaging app records. Because FaceTime uses end-to-end encryption, Apple cannot view call content as it happens; investigators still recovered recordings from the phone they seized. Apple is fighting a reported British demand to access protected iCloud data, and the European Commission plans to explore technical ways to give lawful access to encrypted evidence.
Prosecutors state the network claimed 18 attacks or attempted operations in Europe between March and April, beginning after American and Israeli strikes on Iran. In March, al-Saadi asked Mohajeri about coordinated militia strikes using drones and missiles; Mohajeri agreed and told him to take photographs and video. Separately, al-Saadi received footage showing men in hazmat suits beside a drone carrying vials of an unidentified white powder.
The attacks were revenge for U.S. intervention, including a strike that killed the former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, prosecutors say. According to the FBI, al-Saadi’s X account carried calls for revenge against Americans dating back to 2020. Prosecutors also accuse him of posting calls for violence and urging people to kill anyone who backs America and Israel.
Prosecutors allege that al-Saadi concealed instructions for co-defendants in coded phone calls from a Brooklyn detention facility. They cite a July 30, 2026, call with his sister about cancelled or paused work, and a September call directing his family to send money to al-Hassani. Last week, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon demanded prosecutors show more evidence while limiting al-Saadi’s communications and holding him in solitary confinement, saying the government’s claims about coded family calls lacked clear links to criminal conduct. She set a Nov. 19 conference to discuss whether he should represent himself.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American servicemembers will be prosecuted by the United States government.” Al-Saadi’s lawyer, public defender Andrew Dalack, declined to comment on the new indictment. Each defendant faces charges including conspiracy to bomb a public place and attempted terrorism acts across national borders, with a maximum life sentence. Al-Saadi faces eight terrorism-related counts and awaits trial before the Southern District of New York.
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