US charges man with plotting Iran-directed attacks on Jews in London and New York

A terrorist organisation responsible for a series of arson attacks targeting the Jewish community in Britain and across Europe has been officially identified as a proxy of the Iranian state.

US Department of Justice (DoJ) documents reveal how Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (Hayi), believed to be behind nearly 20 attacks across Europe in less than three months, was allegedly operated by a senior Iranian operative.

US justice officials said Hayi was directly linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hezbollah and Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia operating in Iraq.

Hayi has been linked to around half a dozen arson attacks in London targeting Jewish ambulances and synagogues, as well as a drone attack on the Israeli embassy.

The group also claimed responsibility for the Golders Green stabbing.

It emerged in May that intelligence agencies believed Hayi was linked to Iran, after arson attacks were reported on state-linked media channels before being publicised by British authorities.

A US criminal complaint filed against Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, an Iraqi national, outlined a string of terrorism charges.

Al-Saadi, an alleged commander in Kata’ib Hezbollah, is accused of plotting attacks on a synagogue in New York and two Jewish institutions in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Arizona, prosecutors said.

The complaint, filed to initiate criminal charges, detailed 18 reported terrorist attacks across Europe against US and Israeli interests, alleging that al-Saadi was involved in their planning and execution.

The DoJ said the attacks “appear to have been carried out both in retaliation for the United States and Israel’s recent military actions against Iran and to compel the United States and Israel to halt those actions”.

It alleged that al-Saadi used Hayi as a front to carry out attacks while serving as a commander in Kata’ib Hezbollah, also known as the Hezbollah Brigades, which fought coalition forces during the Iraq War.

The attacks include the March arson incident in Golders Green, in which four ambulances belonging to the Jewish charity Hatzola were set alight. Al-Saadi and associates are also allegedly linked to the stabbing of two Jewish people in the same area in April, for which a suspect has been charged.

Saadi allegedly attempted to recruit an undercover agent to target a prominent US synagogue, which was not identified in the complaint.

According to officials, he showed the agent, whom he allegedly believed to be a member of a Mexican cartel, a photograph and map of the site.

Prosecutors say Saadi was recorded during a phone call on 1 April asking how much it would cost to hire someone “to carry out a bombing operation” in the US.

“I mean, we provide him with a Jewish temple, a Jewish centre,” the defendant allegedly said.

He also allegedly supplied photographs and maps of Jewish centres in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, asking whether it would be possible to “set the three locations on fire at the same time”.

However, Saadi’s attorney, Andrew Dalack, told CBS News: “He’s essentially being subjected to a political prosecution in that he’s a prisoner of war and should be treated as such.”

Dalack said his client was detained and handed over to US authorities without any opportunity to challenge either his arrest or transfer.

He is “being held in solitary confinement, which we think is cruel and unnecessary”, Dalack added.

The DoJ document provided no further details of the alleged links.

The complaint states that Hayi attempted to portray itself as an independent organisation by creating its own logo and issuing a founding statement.

However, the statement was broadcast on media channels used by the IRGC, Hezbollah and Kata’ib Hezbollah to disseminate propaganda and information, while its logo was described as “strikingly similar” to Hezbollah’s.

The DoJ claimed: “Essentially overnight, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya was able to activate terrorist cells across Europe to carry out nearly 20 attacks in the weeks immediately following the start of the Iranian military conflict.

“In doing so, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya relied on using an already well-established media and ideological infrastructure.”

The charges include conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, conspiracy to provide material support for acts of terrorism, and conspiracy to bomb a place of public use.

Saadi allegedly worked closely with Qasem Soleimani, the longtime commander of the IRGC, who was killed in a US airstrike in 2020.

The complaint accuses Saadi of encouraging others to attack and kill Americans, including in retaliation for Soleimani’s death.

US Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the arrest demonstrated American law enforcement’s ability to “disrupt and dismantle foreign terrorist organisations and their leaders”.

“As alleged in the complaint, Al-Saadi directed and urged others to attack US and Israeli interests and to kill Americans and Jews in the US and abroad, and in doing so advance the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” Blanche said.