Man accused of plotting 20 Iran-linked terror attacks in Europe and Canada appears in court

An Iraqi man has been accused of plotting at least 18 terror attacks across Europe, according to charges filed by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al Saadi appeared in a Manhattan federal court on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty and said he was a "prisoner of war".

The charges say he conspired to provide material support to Kata'ib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Iraqi Shia militant group, and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Both groups have been designated by the US as foreign terrorist organisations. US prosecutors also alleged that Al Saadi was a Kata'ib Hezbollah commander.

In addition to the 18 attacks in Europe, Al Saadi is charged with plotting two others in Canada.

The DOJ said last month that he was arrested on 15 May and was transferred into US custody overseas before being transported to New York, where he was ordered detained pending a trial.

It added that Al Saadi was alleged to have worked closely with Qassem Soleimani, the longtime commander of the IRGC who was killed during a US airstrike on 3 January 2020.

Andrew Dalack, Al Saadi's defence lawyer, told the judge on Monday that his client worked for the Iraqi government, though he did not specify what position.

He added that Al Saadi was held at an underground Turkish prison for two weeks before he was turned over to the FBI, and that the defendant had been held in solitary confinement at a federal lockup in Brooklyn.

Speaking in court through an Arabic interpreter, he said: "I'm not guilty in a war situation. I'm a prisoner of war. I'm not a threat."

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Al Saadi added that "children and women are being killed by your rockets," referencing the Minab girls' school strike at the start of the US and Israeli war on Iran, which killed more than 170 people, most of them children.

US President Donald Trump initially blamed Iran or "other countries" for the attack, then later said he was not certain who was behind it.

Pressed on what he would do if investigators found the US was responsible, he said: "Whatever the report shows, I'm willing to live with that report".

The Pentagon has not acknowledged any preliminary findings from reports on the strike.

According to the DOJ, Al Saadi and his associates "have planned, coordinated, and claimed responsibility for at least 18 terrorist attacks in Europe" since 9 March this year.

The federal body said: "For example, on or about March 15, 2026, individuals carried out an attack involving explosives against the Bank of New York Mellon, an American bank, in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

"The next day, on or about March 16, 2026, AL-SAADI posted a propaganda video of the attack, in which Harakat Ashab al Yamin al Islamiya [a component of Kata'ib Hezbollah] claimed responsibility for the attack."

Federal prosecutors also said in court papers that he sought to attack a New York City synagogue last month and provided an undercover law enforcement officer with photos and maps of Jewish centres in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Arizona, that he planned to target.

(c) Sky News 2026: Man accused of plotting 20 Iran-linked terror attacks in Europe and Canada appears in court