US charges Iraqi national accused of plotting at least 18 terror attacks in Europe

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NEW YORK (AP) — An Iraqi national accused of plotting at least 18 terror attacks in Europe in retaliation for the U.S. war in Iran, including firebombing a bank in Amsterdam and stabbing Jewish men in London, has been arrested and charged with supporting Iran-backed terrorist organizations.

According to a complaint unsealed Friday in federal court in Manhattan, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi sought to attack a New York City synagogue last month and provided an undercover law enforcement officer with photos and maps of Jewish centers in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Arizona, that he planned to target.

He is also accused of involvement in two recent attacks in Canada: an attack on a synagogue and a shooting at the U.S. consulate in Toronto in March.

Al-Saadi is charged with conspiracy to provide material support to Kata’ib Hizballah, an Iran-backed Iraqi Shia militant group, and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, both of which have been designated by the U.S. government as foreign terrorist organizations.

He is also charged with conspiring and providing material support for acts of terrorism and conspiring to bomb a place of public use.

Al-Saadi did not speak at his initial court appearance, but through his lawyer claimed that he is a political prisoner and a prisoner of war and that he is being persecuted by U.S. authorities for his relationship with Qasem Soleimani, the Revolutionary Guard leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.

Al-Saadi was not required to enter a plea. He will remain jailed but could ask for bail in the future.

Al-Saadi’s lawyer, Andrew Dalack, said Al-Saadi was arrested in Turkey and turned over to U.S. authorities. Al-Saadi has been kept in solitary confinement since he was brought to a federal jail in Brooklyn on Thursday night, Dalack said.