Incident near Fairford air base in England: Washington indicts three “Iranian agents”

American justice announced Tuesday that it had indicted three “Iranian agents” suspected of being involved in an incident near an English air base used by the United States to carry out attacks against Iran.

On September 27, police intervened near the Fairford base (southwest of England), used by the United States to carry out attacks against Iran, after “three suspicious vehicles” were reported to emergency services. Inside, the police said they found no explosive device, but gasoline “in quantity” and remained very cautious about the supposed purpose of this operation. Several suspects were arrested and released on bail. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, however, declared that this incident was “almost certainly directed” by Iran. The United States subsequently withdrew its B-1 bombers from this base.

In a press release, the US Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that it had indicted three men for several attacks and attempts, mainly in Europe, including this “planned terrorist attack” against the Fairford base. Among the three people prosecuted is Mohammed Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi (32), already imprisoned in the United States and presented by Washington as a leader of the Hezbollah Brigades (Kataëb Hezbollah), a pro-Tehran Iraqi armed group. The other two are Mohsen Mohajeri, a 48-year-old Iranian, and Mohammad Ali Al-Hassani, a 35-year-old Iraqi national. U.S. authorities are not saying where both are. According to the US Department of Justice, Mohammad Ali Al-Hassani orchestrated the logistics and preparations for the attack on the Fairford base.

“Chemicals”

The prosecution alleges that he "paid several people" to help him, "including by obtaining vans and barrels of fuel, seeking to purchase chemicals that accelerate combustion, including large quantities of potassium chloride, and purchasing metal objects that could be used as flying fragments in an explosion." On September 26, he then, according to the indictment, instructed several individuals to drive these vehicles to the base, some containing “barrels of fuel,” and remained “in frequent contact with the drivers, coordinating their movements.” Mohammed Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi interacted with the two others while he was in US custody, prosecutors say, using “coded messages” during phone calls with family members in Iraq. The press release said nothing about Mohsen Mohajeri's role in the British base affair.

The three men are the subject of an eight-count indictment which also implicates them in several other attacks or planned attacks for the benefit of the Revolutionary Guards and the Hezbollah Brigades. Classified as a “terrorist group” by Washington, the Hezbollah Brigades are part of the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”, a pro-Iran nebula which regularly claims drone and rocket attacks on bases hosting American soldiers in the Middle East. “Anyone who prepares a plan to attack a military base housing American soldiers will be prosecuted by the United States,” declared Justice Minister Todd Blanche.

Al-Saadi was arrested and charged in May for planning, coordinating and claiming responsibility for at least 18 terrorist attacks in Europe and two in Canada, in retaliation for the military offensive launched since February 28 by the United States and Israel against Iran. These included the stabbing attack on two Jewish men in London at the end of April, the perpetrator of which was arrested and is awaiting trial. According to the Department of Justice, Mohammed Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi had worked in the past “in close collaboration” with Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, leader of the Revolutionary Guards, killed in 2020 by an American strike ordered by Donald Trump. He has also repeatedly publicly called for attacks against Americans.