Three Iran-backed suspects plotted attacks including RAF Fairford incident, US says

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced charges against three Iran-backed operatives that it alleges were involved in a string of plots in the US and Europe. One man, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national, is accused of communicating with contacts in the UK from a prison in New York where he is awaiting trial on previous charges. The other two are accused of doing the same from Iran.

Seven men have been arrested in the UK over the incident, which came to light when suspicious vans were reported near the RAF base. Iranian Mohsen Mohajeri, Iraqi national Mohammad Ali al-Hassani and dual Iranian-Iraqi citizen Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi were charged in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday, the DOJ said. It accuses the trio of planning attacks in Europe that were carried out under the name of a purportedly new group with the pseudonym Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand - HAYI).

"Of the 18 terrorist attacks in the spring of 2026 for which HAYI claimed responsibility in Europe, seven took place in the UK," the DOJ statement said.