The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced charges against three Iran-backed operatives that it alleges were involved in a string of plots in the US and Europe.
The DOJ said Iranian agents most recently "orchestrated a terrorist plot at an air force base in the United Kingdom", saying they were involved in the major incident in September near RAF Fairford in the UK, where US armed forces were stationed.
One man, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national, is accused of communicating with contacts in the UK from a prison in New York where he is awaiting trial on previous charges. The other two are accused of doing the same from Iran.
Iran has strongly denied any involvement in the RAF Fairford incident, which came to light when suspicious vans were reported near the base. Seven men have been arrested in the UK over the incident.
Iranian Mohsen Mohajeri, Iraqi national Mohammad Ali al-Hassani and dual Iranian-Iraqi citizen Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi were charged in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday, the DOJ said.
It accuses the trio of planning attacks in Europe that were carried out under the name of a purportedly new group with the pseudonym Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand - HAYI).
