British police arrest US soldier accused of spying for Russia

The anti-terrorist unit of the British police arrested a 41-year-old American soldier on Tuesday, accused of alleged espionage for Russia. The detainee was stationed at the Imjin barracks, in the town of Innsworth, a military center that serves as the headquarters of the NATO Rapid Reaction Corps, created in 1992. The arrest occurred in Gloucester, as a result of a joint action by the British police, the US Army and the FBI.

The detainee is accused of crimes contemplated in the National Security Law, such as assisting a foreign intelligence service or obtaining and publishing protected information. He remains detained in police custody while the investigation, which has included the search of two homes in Gloucestershire, continued.

“The FBI will have no tolerance for those who break their oath of loyalty to the United States, and whose actions put our national security or that of our partners at risk,” said Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, shortly after learning of the soldier's arrest. “Partnerships are essential to protect our countries, and I want to express my gratitude to the United Kingdom Police Counter-Terrorism Unit, MI5 [British domestic intelligence service], and the Counterintelligence units of the Ministry of Defense and the US Army,” he added.

The message of gratitude serves to soften a collaboration between London and Washington that had been affected after the episode of an alleged Iranian attack on the Fairford air base. The White House then criticized the handling of the arrests by British authorities and the release on bail of the arrested suspects. A few days later, the Pentagon ordered the evacuation of American aircraft stationed both at Fairford and, shortly after, at RAF Mildenhall base.

“These are very serious allegations, and the investigation is continuing intensively,” said Vicki Evans, the deputy commissioner of the British counter-terrorism department. “The activity displayed demonstrates the strength of collaboration in police and national security matters between the United States and the United Kingdom,” he added.

Almost at the same time that the arrest of the soldier suspected of spying for Russia became known, the Department of Justice revealed the charges filed against three Iranians for their alleged attempt to attack American interests in that country and in Europe. By pointing out that the three defendants “had orchestrated terrorist sabotage against an air base in the United Kingdom,” the Trump Administration pointed directly to them as those responsible for the Fairford incident.

One of the accused is being held in a New York prison and from there, according to the Department of Justice, he would have given instructions to other men stationed in the United Kingdom to carry out the attacks. The other two accused would have done the same from Iranian territory.

Mohamed Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, an Iranian-Iraqi national, called his relatives in Iraq from prison to transmit coded messages to the other two defendants, Mohamed Ali Al-Hasani and Moshen Mohajeri, and put plans into action to attack the Fairford base.

US authorities say the three belong to an organization called Ashab al-Yamin, a pro-Iran Islamist group that emerged in March of this year. He is blamed for attacks or attempted attacks against synagogues and Jewish interests in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as attacks on dissidents of the Iranian regime and, finally, against Western military installations such as the Fairford base.

Seven suspects have been arrested, and later released under caution, by British authorities in connection with the Fairford incident. The Iranian Government has always denied that its hand was behind this alleged terrorist attack.