DOJ Charges Three Iran-Backed Operatives in Van-Bomb Plot Against RAF Fairford

Three Iran-backed operatives have been charged with plotting a terrorist attack on a British Royal Air Force base where U.S. troops are stationed, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday.

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi was indicted in May on federal charges of conspiracy to provide material support to Iran-backed terrorist organizations, including Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kata'ib Hizballah. An eight-count superseding indictment made public Tuesday accuses him of attempting to coordinate with two others to attack RAF Fairford in September. Al-Saadi is in federal custody in New York.

The filing alleges he plotted the attack with Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national, and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national, by "passing them coded messages through third parties." Two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News that Mohajeri and al-Hassani are not in custody.

According to prosecutors, beginning in August Al-Saadi "directed and paid" associates in the United Kingdom to prepare for an attack on the base, including ordering an unnamed person to conduct surveillance. He then allegedly paid others to organize vans and barrels of fuel, research chemical accelerants and buy metal to be used as shrapnel. The plan, the indictment says, was for three people to drive fuel-filled vans to RAF Fairford, where they would explode.

Al-Saadi allegedly told the individuals to mark the vans with custom decals so they would pass as a fuel-delivery or pool-supply business, and directed his family members to relay messages to co-conspirators. In a July phone call, he asked his sister to pass word to Mohajeri about "work," which prosecutors say meant terrorist activity. She replied that the work "isn't cancelled." On Sept. 24, he allegedly asked how al-Hassani was and told his family to "give him money so we can do it."

The indictment says al-Hassani then directed three people to drive the vans toward the base on Sept. 26. Two of the vans hit security checkpoints and could not continue on their intended route. U.K. authorities recovered three vans bearing fuel-delivery decals and arrested the drivers.

Prosecutors previously alleged that Al-Saadi plotted attacks inside the United States, including at a prominent Jewish institution in New York. They also accuse him of being involved in the planning, execution and promotion of about 18 reported terror attacks in Europe and two in Canada against U.S. and Israeli interests since March, in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli military action in Iran.

"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 in a statement.

The case adds a U.S. prosecution to a British investigation that has already produced arrests, and it ties the alleged plotting to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Two of the three men are not in custody, and the indictment leaves open who in the Iranian system gave the orders beyond the named defendants.