A man charged in the US for plotting the RAF Fairford terror plot was stripped of his British citizenship last month after he fled to the Middle East, according to reports.
Mohammed Ali al-Hassani, 35, a dual Iranian Iraqi national, is one of three men charged in the US with masterminding 18 Iran-backed terrorist plots in Europe.
US officials allege Al-Hassani ‘directed and paid associates in the United Kingdom to conduct preparatory steps and arrange logistics for the RAF Fairford’ plot from Iran.
It’s now been reported that Al-Hassani was a UK citizen until his status was revoked last month.
It is claimed that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood wrote to the suspect to say the decision had been taken because of national security concerns.
Al-Hassani left the UK weeks after the US went to war with Iran in February, it is understood.
He and Iranian Mohsen Mohajeri, 48, are accused of using ‘a network of contacts in the United Kingdom’ to orchestrate the Fairford plot.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, who was already in prison in the US, is accused of smuggling out coded messages to the pair from jail during phone calls to his family members.
Mohammed Ali al-Hassani (right), 35, is one of three men accused of plotting terror attacks in the UK and abroad, and was previously a British citizen (Pictured with Mohsen Mohajeri, left)
US prosecutors have released photos allegedly showing Al-Hassani (circled in green) and Al-Saadi (circled in red) planning attacks in April on a FaceTime call
The three men are accused of working for banned groups the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah, and were charged in an eight-count indictment which was unsealed in the US on Tuesday.
It is alleged they were behind 18 attacks in Europe, seven of which occurred in the UK – the most of any country – and attempting to bomb a synagogue in New York.
Last month, two men appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged under the National Security Act over the incident near the Gloucestershire airbase on September 27 which saw three ‘suspicious’ vans searched by police.
Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, from London, is accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service by acting as an ‘intermediary’ for an Iranian handler known only as Ali.
Nouman Essghir, 24, also from London, is accused of entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK, relating to an alleged ‘reconnaissance’ mission around a month before the Fairford incident.
According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Iraqi national Al-Hassani is accused of paying an unnamed individual to ‘perform pre-operational surveillance of RAF Fairford’s perimeter’.
It is also alleged he ‘tasked and paid several individuals to help him prepare for the plot, including by procuring vans and barrels of fuel, researching the purchase of chemical accelerants, including large quantities of potassium chloride, and purchasing metallic objects that could be used as explosive shrapnel’.
Police who searched the vans found near the base found quantities of petrol, but no explosives.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi (pictured) is accused of smuggling out coded messages from his prison cell directing two lieutenants in Iran to coordinate a plot targeting the US base in Gloucestershire
The DOJ said Al-Hassani instructed those individuals to outfit the vans ‘to create the appearance that they were used by a fuel delivery business and a swimming pool supply business’, and was ‘in frequent communication’ with the drivers of the vans the morning of the incident.
The US removed its bombers from the base following the incident and Iran has denied any involvement.
US prosecutors have released photos allegedly showing Al-Hassani and Al-Saadi planning attacks in April on a FaceTime call with an individual about to firebomb a London synagogue.
Photos also show Al-Hassani and Mohajeri looking at a London map during a ‘meeting to plot terror attacks’.
In a video of that meeting, Al-Hassani allegedly told Mohajeri: ‘We need to get focused on London.’
In another call, Al-Hassani is said to have told a London synagogue firebomber to ‘light it up like a Christmas tree’.
Al-Saadi was previously charged in May with working on behalf of Iran’s IRGC and terror group Kataib Hizballah on 18 European terror attacks and for attempting to bomb a New York synagogue.
The attacks are said to be ‘psychological warfare’ using proxies recruited online to retaliate over US-Israeli strikes.
Al-Saadi is now accused of running a new terror group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya.
It claimed responsibility for arson attacks on ambulances and synagogues in London, plus a drone attack on the Israeli embassy.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘As there are ongoing legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate for us to comment.
‘However, as we have said previously, it is no secret that we face a range of serious threats from Iran and this Government will continue to face them down – supporting our police and intelligence agencies with record funding and new powers to detect threats and keep us safe.’
