An Iraqi-Iranian man indicted over nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks in Europe and the United States told FBI agents he met Ali Khamenei in Iran three days before the war began and the supreme leader was killed, according to US court documents.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, 32, has been charged in an eight-count indictment over what US prosecutors described as his work as an operative of Tehran-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, both designated by Washington as foreign terrorist organizations.
The Justice Department said Al-Saadi was involved in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and the United States, including attacks targeting Jewish and Israeli sites in London and an alleged attempt to arrange attacks on US soil.
Public court filings say Al-Saadi described close relationships with Iranian and IRGC leaders. He said he was “like a son” to Qasem Soleimani, the longtime commander of the IRGC Quds Force who was killed in a US airstrike in 2020.
According to the documents, Al-Saadi said he regularly traveled with Soleimani and was supposed to drive him to meet Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, then the leader of Kata’ib Hezbollah, on the day Soleimani and al-Muhandis were killed.
Al-Saadi also told investigators he was close to Khamenei and had met him in Iran approximately three days before the conflict began on February 28 and Khamenei was killed, the court documents said.
According to the filings, Al-Saadi was transferred to FBI custody on May 14 and taken to the United States with several electronic devices, including an Apple iPhone referred to in the documents as the “Al-Saadi Phone.”
While in FBI custody, Al-Saadi waived his Miranda rights and told US law enforcement agents he was a leader of “the resistance,” which he described as including the IRGC and its proxies, among them Kata’ib Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis.
He also told investigators he was responsible for media and psychological warfare against the United States, as well as strategy and military intelligence, the documents said.
Prosecutors said Al-Saadi’s phone and social media accounts contained evidence of his longstanding support for the IRGC, Kata’ib Hezbollah and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, as well as his role in planning, carrying out and promoting attacks in Europe.
The Justice Department said the phone contained videos and photos of Al-Saadi meeting with leaders of the IRGC, Kata’ib Hezbollah and the Houthis, images glorifying the IRGC and Hezbollah, and material showing him as a Kata’ib Hezbollah commander with access to machine guns and other weapons.
One video cited in the filing appears to show Al-Saadi with Soleimani and Akram Abbas al-Kabi, a US-designated terrorist described by prosecutors as one of the main IRGC Quds Force operatives in Iraq, in what appeared to be an underground operations center.
The court documents also say Al-Saadi joined FaceTime calls with attackers as some European attacks were being carried out, filmed the attacks in real time, helped create and distribute propaganda videos, and discussed the timing of attacks with a Kata’ib Hezbollah contact.
In one case, prosecutors cited a video from April 18, the day of an attack on a synagogue in London, showing Al-Saadi and several other men on a FaceTime call projected on a large screen with the logo of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya in the background.
The filing says one man on the call instructed the attacker in English, telling him to take a lighter, “light it” and “throw the fourth one.”
The Justice Department said Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, which claimed responsibility for several attacks, was a front for Kata’ib Hezbollah and other US-designated terrorist organizations.
Al-Saadi faces charges including conspiring to provide material support to Kata’ib Hezbollah and the IRGC, conspiring to provide material support for acts of terrorism, attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, conspiring to bomb a place of public use, attempted destruction of property by fire or explosives, and financing terrorism.
The charges are accusations, and Al-Saadi is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
