Three men are charged in New York over fuel-laden vans sent at a British airbase, but only one of them is in custody

The United States has charged three men over what prosecutors call a campaign of terror directed by groups aligned with Iran, stretching from synagogues in London and New York to the gates of a Royal Air Force base in the English Cotswolds.

An eight-count superseding indictment was unsealed in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, US time (Wednesday morning AWST). It names al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi citizen; Mohajeri, an Iranian national prosecutors describe as an operative of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; and al-Hassani, an Iraqi national.

All three are charged with conspiring to provide material support to the Revolutionary Guards and to Kata’ib Hizballah, both designated foreign terrorist organisations in the US, conspiring to bomb a place of public use, and financing terrorism. Al-Saadi faces two further counts, including attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries. The bombing conspiracy count and the attempted terrorism count each carry a maximum of life in prison.

What do prosecutors say happened at RAF Fairford?

According to the Justice Department, al-Hassani paid someone on 22 August to watch the perimeter of RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire. In September, prosecutors allege, he paid people to buy vans, fuel barrels, potassium chloride and metal for shrapnel, and to fit the vans with fake fuel-delivery and pool-supply decals.

On 26 September three vans were sent towards the base, prosecutors say, and at least two reached a security roadblock. British police recovered the vans and arrested their occupants in the early hours of 27 September. Five men were detained that night and a sixth later. Two men have since been charged in Britain under the National Security Act.

Prosecutors say al-Hassani and Mohajeri were in Iran while the airbase plot was carried out, relying on contacts in the UK.

What about the attacks on Jewish communities?

Prosecutors allege about 18 attacks in Europe in the northern spring of 2026 were claimed under the name Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, which the Justice Department describes as a front for Kata’ib Hizballah. Seven were in Britain, more than in any other European country, and included arson, explosives and a near-fatal stabbing of two Jewish men in London.

The indictment alleges al-Hassani directed an attack on a London synagogue by video call in April, and that al-Saadi planned attacks in the US, including on a synagogue in Manhattan.

How could a man in jail be part of it?

Al-Saadi has been held in New York since he was arrested abroad around 1 May and brought to the US. Prosecutors allege that from jail he passed coded messages through phone calls with relatives in Iraq, as late as about 24 September, to coordinate with the other two men.

What have officials said?

Attorney General Todd Blanche said anyone plotting against a base housing American service members “will be prosecuted by the United States government”. US Attorney Jamie McDonald said the threat from Iran “is not hypothetical”. FBI Director Kash Patel said: “justice will find you.”

Iran has denied involvement in the Fairford incident. There was no public response from Tehran to the indictment by Wednesday morning AWST. Lawyers for al-Saadi did not respond to requests for comment.

Why does it matter now?

The charges land as US tanker aircraft are being moved out of RAF Mildenhall, another British base, over a threat from Iran that officials are still assessing, and days after US President Donald Trump called the war with Iran “effectively over”. The bombers based at Fairford were sent home to the US after the September arrests.

The indictment puts a US legal claim on record that attacks on Jewish communities in Europe, and on a base on a NATO ally’s soil, were directed by people working for groups in Iran’s orbit. For governments weighing how far the conflict reaches beyond the Gulf, including Australia’s, that claim is now in a court file rather than an intelligence briefing.