Arrest of Iraqi terror suspect with alleged links to Iran’s Quds Force is astonishing but not surprising | Iran

An alleged Iraqi commander of an Iran-backed militia group has been arrested by US authorities, accusing him of responsibility for 18 terrorist attacks in Britain, Europe and Canada since the start of the Iran war.

According to the complaint unsealed Friday in a federal court in Manhattan, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, among other operations, recently carried out a series of firebomb attacks on banks and other targets in France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, an arson attack on a synagogue and a shooting attack on the US consulate in Toronto in March, as well as – most recently – a wave of attacks on mostly Jewish targets in the United Kingdom, including places of worship and charities. He is alleged to be responsible for organizing it.

Perhaps most importantly, al-Saadi, 32, is accused of being involved in the stabbing of two Jewish men in North London in April.

While the detailed complaint provides no details about the London attack, it does reference recorded conversations between al-Saadi and an FBI informant and an undercover FBI agent in which he discussed operations in Europe while trying to mount new attacks on Jewish targets in the United States.

The complaint also stated that Al-Saadi allegedly claimed responsibility for the attacks on Snapchat and Telegram on behalf of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI), a so-called Islamist militant group. He was reportedly detained in Türkiye, although the details are unclear.

In a development few observers had predicted, the man allegedly responsible for a frightening, if not deadly, wave of violence in a dozen countries is now in solitary confinement in a federal prison in Brooklyn.

The fact that a senior official from the Islamist militia in Iraq created and supported by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the prime suspect is also not a big reveal for researchers and analysts. It has long been suspected that the Revolutionary Guard (more specifically the Quds Force, which specializes in covert operations abroad) is responsible for the attacks that have caused concern and fear in recent weeks.

Iran has a long history of such unconventional operations, all designed to divert, distract and destabilize current or potential enemies. For decades, Tehran’s main tactic has been to work through loyal proxies abroad or through people the proxies themselves can recruit. This provides several layers that hide the real instigator of the violence.

One clue pointing to the involvement of the Revolutionary Guard was that HAYI was unknown before the war in Iran and first appeared on social media channels linked to Iran-backed Islamist militias in Iraq in early March. Posts claiming responsibility or showing images of the attacks were made so soon after each operation that it was clear that the author was very close to, or even possibly the same person, the person who organized these attacks. Some posts appeared before the attacks and suggested targets were hit afterward.

Al-Saadi allegedly posted many posts under his own name, which appears to be a blatant violation of the security “business.”

Another potential clue was the nature of the attacks; this was a situation familiar to European security services; These services have reported for several years that Iran relies on criminal networks to recruit low-level “disposable” agents motivated by the opportunity to make relatively small amounts of money. Many appear to have a limited understanding of the nature of their objectives and no knowledge of their ultimate payers.

A former drug dealer Detained in France After spying on a Jewish businessman’s Munich home in 2024, he said he was recruited by a former cellmate via Snapchat to help with a “fraud case” and paid €1,000 (£870).

A 17-year-old arrested in Paris in March on suspicion of a failed bombing attempt on a Bank of America branch told police he was recruited through a Snapchat group from which he often received commissions to distribute drugs.

According to the police, “Mr. Big” said he wanted to scare a friend’s unfaithful girlfriend and offered the teenager and two other soldiers 1,000 to 1,400 euros in exchange for setting off fireworks in front of the woman’s house and filming the scene. Obtained by Le Monde.

The complaint stated that in April, during meetings with a man he thought was a high-ranking figure in a Mexican cartel but working for the FBI, Al-Saadi offered $10,000 for attacks on a synagogue and Jewish community centers and wanted this to be recorded. In an earlier conversation, he had described how things were “going well” in Europe and said he didn’t need help there.

Al-Saadi smiled but did not speak during his first appearance in court.

Through his lawyer, he described himself as a political prisoner and prisoner of war and said he was being persecuted by US authorities for his relationship with former Revolutionary Guard leader Qasem Soleimani, who led the Quds Force and was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.

Al-Saadi may now find himself in the same position as many of those hired to carry out attacks in recent months as HAYI claims. They were specifically hired to be deniable and disposable.

So far, there has been no reaction from Tehran to al-Saadi’s arrest or the allegations contained in the justice ministry’s complaint.

Al-Saadi did not need to defend himself. He will remain in jail but will be able to apply for bail.