An Iraqi man was charged with allegedly planning an attack on a Jewish center in Scottsdale, among other locations in the United States, according to federal prosecutors.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a 32-year-old Iraqi national, could face decades in prison if convicted, the Department of Justice said.
Al-Saadi is accused of being a senior member of Kata’ib Hizballah, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. The group aims to establish an Iran-backed government in Iraq and is aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Justice Department said.
“Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a commander for the terrorist organization, Kata’ib Hizballah, faces serious charges for his role in numerous attacks against U.S. interests across the globe, including his efforts to kill on U.S. soil,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said in a written statement.
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FBI Director Kash Patel called Al-Saadi a “high-value target responsible for mass global terrorism.”
According to the DOJ, Al-Saadi spoke to an undercover law enforcement officer whom he believed could carry out attacks in the United States. He allegedly shared photographs and maps of potential U.S.-based Jewish institutions to attack in Scottsdale, Los Angeles and New York City.
The charging document did not name the Scottsdale center that Al-Saad allegedly targeted. Justice Department spokesman Nicholas Biase declined to name the center.
The alleged Scottsdale plot was part of a larger plan to target U.S. and Israeli interests, the Justice Department said. The DOJ accused Al-Saadi and his associates of claiming responsibility for at least 18 terror attacks in Europe and two in Canada.
“Thanks to the dedication and vigilance of law enforcement, this alleged terrorist commander is now in U.S. custody,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a written statement. “As alleged in the complaint, Al-Saadi directed and urged others to attack U.S. and Israeli interests and to kill Americans and Jews in the U.S. and abroad, and in doing so advance the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Al-Saadi worked closely with Qasem Soleimani, the longtime commander of the IRGC-QF who was killed during a U.S. airstrike around 2020, according to the DOJ. Kata’ib Hizballah leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was killed in the same strike.
Al-Saadi is accused of calling on others to attack and kill Americans, including in retribution for those deaths, prosecutors said.
Al-Saadi was charged with six counts of terrorism-related offenses, including conspiring to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations, conspiring to provide material support for acts of terrorism, conspiring to murder U.S. nationals, conspiring to bomb a place of public use and attempted destruction of property by means of fire or explosive.
Al-Saadi was arrested overseas and transported to the U.S. He appeared in a Manhattan federal courtroom May 15.
“These charges show American law enforcement will never let such evil go unchecked, and will use all tools to disrupt and dismantle foreign terrorist organizations and their leaders,” Blanche said.
