Seven men behind alleged Iranian terror network 'unmasked'

Play Brightcove video ITV News Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo 'unmasks' the seven-strong group that western officials believe is behind incidents like RAF Fairford An Iranian terror network that claimed responsibility for a wave of attacks across Europe can be unmasked as a group of just seven men who, it is alleged, devised a campaign of revenge in the opening days of the Iran war. Posing as an organised proxy group, they used AI-generated propaganda and paid local criminals to carry out attacks intended less to kill than to spread fear, working on behalf of the Iranian intelligence services, security officials believe.

An ITV News investigation, based on conversations with multiple security officials, reveals how they believe the network sought to terrorise Jewish communities through a series of attacks carried out in quick succession. The findings shed new light on a campaign that has caused confusion as well as fear over the past eight months, beginning with an explosion at a synagogue in Belgium and followed soon by an arson attack on a Jewish ambulance service in London.

By the summer, following attacks in France, Greece and the Netherlands, officials believe the group escalated its ambitions, attempting to target RAF Fairford, a British airbase used by the US military. Officials paint a picture of a loose circle of associates rather than a conventional terrorist organisation. At its centre was Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national who was charged in the United States on Tuesday with orchestrating attacks in Europe.

Two other men, Iranian national Mohsen Mohajeri and Iraqi national Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, were also charged with terrorism-related offences in an eight-count indictment unsealed in New York. Credit: ITV News ITV News can reveal that the network is also thought to have included two brothers with suspected links to organised crime in the Netherlands. One, Mustafa Mter Rassoul Alkyaui, was arrested in Turkey, where he remains in detention.

His brother, Rassoul Mter Rassoul Alkyaui Mohsen, remains at large. The pair are named here for the first time. From a control room in Baghdad, members of the network are believed to have selected targets and devised tactics as Tehran sought unconventional ways to retaliate against Israel and the United States. But their plans were shaped as much by opportunity as strategy. Attacks depended on how quickly they could recruit local criminals willing to carry them out for money, often without knowing whose instructions they were following.

The brothers’ contacts in Europe’s criminal underworld are believed to have been crucial in turning the group’s ambitions into attacks. The first came just nine days after the war began. An explosion at a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liège shattered its windows and those of a building across the street. The synagogue is thought to have been chosen not because of its particular significance, but because the network could find criminals locally to attack it.

Eight months on, worshippers at the Liège synagogue are still struggling to come to terms with the attack. They had initially assumed local extremists were responsible, rather than an international network allegedly acting on behalf of the Iranian regime. Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. "In the beginning we thought that they were people from around us, people who were radicalised by what’s going on," said Rosita Winkler, a worshipper at the synagogue who described to ITV News the period of fear in the Jewish community that has continued since the attack.

"Then came the anxiety. With everything that is going on in the world against the Jewish community, is it also coming to Liège? Who done it? Are we going to be targeted personally? "Why people paid those guys to come here to put a bomb in front of Liège synagogue, that’s a different question.” Two days after the explosion, a previously obscure group calling itself the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR) claimed responsibility.

Its video featured ominous music, a menacing emblem and the hallmarks of propaganda produced by established terrorist organisations such as Islamic State and Hezbollah - a clear attempt to generate panic. But the apparent sophistication is believed to have been an illusion, created partly through artificial intelligence to make a small network appear far more formidable. The deception was central to the campaign: the group wanted its attacks to generate fear far beyond the damage they caused.

ITV News has also learned that al-Saadi is suspected of personally producing and distributing some of the propaganda, using AI to imitate the style of established terrorist organisations. He is also believed to have helped plan an attack on a Jewish ambulance service in north London, three weeks after the war began. In the early hours of 23 March, four ambulances operated by the charity Hatzola were set alight in Golders Green. Gas canisters inside the vehicles exploded as the fires spread.

In the early hours of 23 March, four ambulances operated by the charity Hatzola were set alight in Golders Green. Credit: PA Soon afterwards, another IMCR video appeared online, claiming responsibility. Al-Saadi is suspected of not only helping create propaganda but personally publishing it too: The man accused of helping orchestrate attacks across Europe was also, investigators believe, the person pressing ‘send’ on the videos designed to terrify Jewish communities.

But the public may not have been the only ones deceived. Investigators believe two rival branches of the Iranian regime were funding the same network: the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. Neither, it is thought, knew the other was involved - evidence, officials believe, of a lack of coordination between different arms of the Iranian regime. Although the group is assumed to have chosen most of its targets itself, western officials believe that its decision to target RAF Fairford is likely to have received sign-off from more senior figures within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

" This eight-count indictment shows the determination of Iran to commit terrorist attacks in Europe and the US, including one plot that was recently prevented at RAF Fairford, a British Royal Air Force Base where American forces were stationed," said FBI Director Kash Patel. With little sign of a breakthrough in Qatar-led attempts to mediate between the warring sides, Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei renewed threats against military bases “from West Asia to Europe” on Wednesday evening.

Western officials believe that Iranian networks such as the self-styled IMCR are prepared to strike again, offering the regime a route towards retaliation as well as plausible deniability. From Westminster to Washington DC - our political experts are across all the latest key talking points. Listen to the latest episode below...