Iran’s proxy terror network reached a Manhattan courtroom Friday. An Iraqi national was charged with coordinating at least 20 attacks against U.S. and Israeli interests across Europe and Canada, including a plot to bomb a synagogue in New York City, which federal agents dismantled before anyone was killed.
A federal criminal complaint identifies the defendant as Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a high-level member of Kata’ib Hizballah who allegedly directed attacks against Americans and Jews in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran.
The complaint alleges al-Saadi firebombed a Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam, attempted to detonate explosives at a Bank of America building in Paris, coordinated attacks against Jewish institutions in the United States, and stabbed two people in London.
Al-Saadi was apprehended in Turkey and transferred to U.S. authorities. He is charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorist groups, conspiracy to bomb a place of public use, and related offenses.
Al-Saadi allegedly paid $3,000 to someone he believed would carry out attacks in California, Arizona, and a Manhattan synagogue. That person was an FBI undercover agent.
Since the onset of the war, the complaint alleges, al-Saadi, who has ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, “has directed and urged others to attack U.S. and Israeli interests, including by killing Americans and Jews.” His group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, has claimed responsibility for at least 18 attacks in Europe and two in Canada.
“Since the onset of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran, Al-Saadi ‘has directed and urged others to attack U.S. and Israeli interests, including by killing Americans and Jews, in retaliation for the Iranian Military Conflict and to further the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the IRGC.'”
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch put it plainly:
“This case puts into stark relief the global threats posed by the Iranian regime and its proxies like Kata’ib Hizballah — Foreign Terrorist Organizations that have repeatedly targeted Jewish communities across Europe and the United States since the war began. Working with our law enforcement partners, we disrupted a plan to attack a Manhattan synagogue, and in partnership with the synagogue’s leadership, ensured its security when the threat was elevated.”
The Department of Justice released images showing al-Saadi alongside the late Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the IRGC commander killed in a U.S. strike in 2020. In court, al-Saadi invoked his ties to Soleimani and called himself a prisoner of war and political prisoner.
Al-Saadi was ordered detained and is next in court May 29. At least one associate is expected to be charged and extradited. What this case makes clear is that Iran’s war against the West didn’t stop at its own borders — it has been running through European streets and American undercover operations for months, and the full scope is still coming into view.
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