Iraqi man charged with supporting Iran-backed terror groups in plot

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An Iraqi national accused of plotting terror attacks in Europe and elsewhere was arrested and charged in federal court in Manhattan, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday. Prosecutors said Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi planned attacks in retaliation for the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran and sought to expand that campaign to Jewish targets in the United States.

The complaint said Al-Saadi tried to carry out a plot against a New York City synagogue last month. Prosecutors said he provided an undercover law enforcement officer with photos and maps of Jewish centers in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Arizona, that he planned to target. The document also says he offered the undercover officer $10,000 in cryptocurrency and made an initial payment of $3,000 for the synagogue attack.

Prosecutors said Al-Saadi is also accused of involvement in attacks in Canada. The complaint alleged he was involved in a synagogue attack and a shooting at the U.S. consulate in Toronto in March.

The complaint depicts Al-Saadi as working through messaging and communications tied to the alleged plot. Prosecutors said he posted about the attacks on Snapchat and Telegram and spoke in phone calls recorded by an FBI informant whose help he sought while planning attacks in the United States. The complaint said Al-Saadi told the informant he was willing to kill people in any such attacks.

Al-Saadi, 32, was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to Kata’ib Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, both designated by the U.S. government as foreign terrorist organizations, the complaint said. Prosecutors also said he is a Kata’ib Hizballah commander. In addition, he faces charges involving conspiring and providing material support for acts of terrorism and conspiring to bomb a place of public use.

FBI Director Kash Patel described the arrest as a high-priority case. Patel said Al-Saadi was a “high-value target responsible for mass global terrorism” and that the arrest was the result of “a righteous mission executed brilliantly” by the agency’s agents and law enforcement partners. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the case “puts into stark relief the global threats posed by the Iranian regime and its proxies like Kata’ib Hizballah.”

During an initial court appearance, Al-Saadi smiled but did not speak, according to the complaint’s description of the proceeding. Prosecutors said he could face a life prison sentence if convicted, and they said he was not required to enter a plea. The filing said he would remain jailed but could request bail.

Through his lawyer, Andrew Dalack, Al-Saadi told the court that he considered himself a political prisoner and a prisoner of war, and Dalack said Al-Saadi was persecuted for his relationship with Qasem Soleimani, the Revolutionary Guard leader killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020. In a separate statement, Dalack said Al-Saadi had been arrested in Turkey and turned over to U.S. authorities, and he said Al-Saadi has been kept in solitary confinement since arriving at a federal jail in Brooklyn on Thursday night—something Dalack said was “unusual given the nature of charges in the complaint.”

According to the complaint, the alleged plots were planned, coordinated, and claimed responsibility for in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, a component of Kata’ib Hizballah, since the war started on Feb. 28. Prosecutors said those allegations include the bombing of a Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam in mid-March and a thwarted bomb attack on a Bank of America office in Paris on March 28, with teenage suspects previously arrested in both cases.

The complaint said the Amsterdam attack caused a fire and significant damage to the building, but no injuries, citing local media reports. It said the bombing followed an explosion outside a Jewish school in Amsterdam that Al-Saadi celebrated on Snapchat with an Ashab al-Yamin-branded video showing the blast and assailants fleeing on a motorcycle. In Paris, prosecutors said police found a homemade bomb described as a gasoline-filled container taped to a powerful firework, and the complaint said forensic experts determined it contained 650 grams (about 23 ounces) of explosives that could have produced a large fireball and ignited a significant blaze.

Prosecutors said Al-Saadi focused on bombing Jewish sites in the U.S. and encouraged the undercover officer to act quickly. The complaint said that after paying the officer an initial installment of $3,000 for the synagogue attack, Al-Saadi encouraged him to strike as soon as possible and told him in an April 6 text message: “I wanna see good news tonight … not tomorrow bro.”