DOJ says Iranian operative used coded calls from NY jail to direct UK plot

U.S. prosecutors charged three men allegedly linked to Iran-backed groups with plotting an attack on RAF Fairford, an English base hosting U.S. aircraft and personnel. The indictment alleges that Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi coordinated from a New York jail using coded messages passed through relatives to Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani. Prosecutors say associates surveilled the base and prepared three fuel-filled vans disguised as commercial vehicles, which were driven toward the base on Sept. 26; British authorities recovered the vans and arrested their occupants the next morning. The defendants face terrorism-related charges connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kata’ib Hezbollah. The allegations have not been proven in court.