The US just charged three Iran-backed men over a plot on a British airbase

The US Justice Department has just charged three men with terrorism offences.

The charges are over an alleged plot to attack RAF Fairford.

That's the RAF base in Gloucestershire that hosts American forces.

A court in Manhattan unsealed the indictment a few hours ago.

So who are these three men?

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi. He's 32, and holds dual Iranian-Iraqi nationality.

Mohsen Mohajeri. He's 48, and Iranian.

Mohammad Ali al-Hassani. He's 35, and Iraqi.

Prosecutors say al-Hassani ran the plot.

They say he recruited people in Britain. Their job was to watch the base and set up the logistics for an attack.

Now here's where it started. Back in September.

A farmer near Fairford saw a group of men with several white vans. Acting suspiciously. He called the police.

Six men were arrested. All six were released on bail.

Prosecutors say al-Hassani directed people to drive to the base in those vans. Some of the vans carried barrels of fuel.

He allegedly paid the group to buy metallic objects. The kind that can be used as shrapnel.

And he allegedly had the vans disguised as fuel delivery vehicles.

Days after that September incident, the US pulled every one of its B-1 bombers out of RAF Fairford.

So why is this bigger than one base?

Because al-Saadi is already in US custody. He's in New York, waiting on trial for separate terrorism charges.

And prosecutors say that from inside that jail, he passed coded messages to al-Hassani and Mohajeri. Through phone calls. To his mother and sister in Iraq.

The messages, prosecutors say, helped coordinate the Fairford plot.

Jamie McDonald is the Manhattan US Attorney. He says quote "a campaign of terror on behalf of terrorist organizations affiliated with Iran".

So this wasn't a one-off. That's a US prosecutor saying Fairford was one target in a wider campaign.

And prosecutors say that campaign already includes the stabbing of two Jewish men in London back in April. One of them held dual US-British citizenship.

It also includes arson and explosives attacks on synagogues, Israeli businesses and Jewish schools. In cities including Amsterdam and Munich.