US charges 3 alleged Iranian operatives over plots targeting Jewish communities and a UK airbase
The United States has charged three men over an alleged campaign of terror targeting Jewish communities in Europe and the United States, as well as Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford airbase.
The three men face charges in Manhattan federal court, with only one, an Iranian-Iraqi dual national, currently in custody.
Prosecutors allege the group planned a campaign of terror on behalf of terrorist organizations affiliated with Iran, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iraqi armed group Kata'ib Hizballah.
The indictment claims the dual national used coded messages from jail to arrange payments for attacks and continued coordinating with his co-defendants in the days before the Fairford incident.
These defendants helped orchestrate a campaign of terror on behalf of terrorist organizations affiliated with Iran.
Fairford base plot
The case centers on a plot against the RAF Fairford airbase, a strategic site used by the US for attacks against Iran.
In late September, UK authorities responded to information about suspicious vehicles near the base by evacuating homes and dispatching security forces and a bomb disposal unit, arresting five people.
The US subsequently withdrew its bombers from the base, and one of the charged defendants allegedly helped coordinate the Fairford incident from a US jail.
Tehran has denied involvement in the alleged plot, while the detained suspect, described as a Kata'ib Hizballah commander, has pleaded not guilty to charges of plotting at least 18 attacks.
He called himself a 'prisoner of war'.
UK arrests
British authorities have also taken action, separately charging two men under the National Security Act in October.
One is accused of assisting Iran's intelligence service and was granted conditional bail, while the other faces a charge of entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK, relating to an alleged reconnaissance visit to Fairford.
That man was remanded in custody.
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