Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, an Iraqi national accused of orchestrating at least 20 terrorist attacks across Europe and Canada in retaliation for the US-Iran war, stood in a Manhattan federal court on Monday and pleaded not guilty — declaring himself a prisoner of war and telling the judge that children and women were being killed “by your rockets.” His case is the most detailed judicial accounting yet of how the Iran war has been exported as terrorism to Western cities.
An Iraqi national accused of plotting at least 18 attacks in Europe in retaliation for the US and Israel’s war with Iran pleaded not guilty on Monday before calling himself a “prisoner of war” and telling a judge that children and women were being killed “by your rockets.” Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi finally was persuaded to sit down in Manhattan federal court as two marshals approached him at a judge’s urging. One marshal put his hand on his shoulder to guide him into his seat. Al-Saadi did not appear to be trying to be disruptive as he commented beyond his response to the charges.
The courtroom scene in lower Manhattan on Monday — a bearded Iraqi man in federal custody invoking the language of war crimes while US marshals guided him to his seat — compressed into a single image the global reach of the conflict that began with US and Israeli air strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026.
Al-Saadi is accused of being a commander within Kata’ib Hizballah — an Iran-backed Iraqi Shia militant organisation that has been designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US government. He is charged with conspiring to provide material support to Kata’ib Hizballah and to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, both designated terrorist organisations.
What Al-Saadi Is Accused of Doing
The criminal complaint unsealed in May by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York describes a campaign of violence that spans multiple countries and months.
An Iraqi national carried out 20 reported terrorist attacks in Europe and Canada against US and Israeli interests, including the stabbing of a Jewish-American citizen, in retaliation for the war in Iran and in an effort to halt the conflict. Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi allegedly firebombed a Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam, tried to detonate improvised explosives at the Bank of America building in Paris, coordinated an attack against Jewish institutions in the United States and stabbed two people in London, the complaint alleges.
Al-Saadi and his associates have planned, coordinated, and claimed responsibility for at least 18 terrorist attacks in Europe, as well as two additional attacks in Canada, the complaint states.
The targeting pattern described in the complaint is deliberate and coherent: financial institutions associated with the US and Israel, Jewish community targets, and symbolic Western commercial landmarks — all chosen for their association with the countries Al-Saadi’s stated ideology holds responsible for the Iran war.
The Amsterdam bank firebombing was one of the most visible attacks of the wave. The attempted bombing of the Bank of America building in Paris involved improvised explosive devices that, according to the complaint, did not detonate as intended. The London stabbings targeted Jewish men — an escalation to direct violence against individuals rather than property or institutions.
Who Al-Saadi Is — and His Connections
The charges say he conspired to provide material support to Kata’ib Hizballah, an Iran-backed Iraqi Shia militant group, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Both Kata’ib Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have been designated by the US government as foreign terrorist organisations. US prosecutors say Al-Saadi was a Kata’ib Hizballah commander.
“Al-Saadi, an Iraqi citizen, has furthered the terrorist goals of that group and the IRGC since at least in or about 2017,” according to the complaint. He has interacted with figures including Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the US in 2020.
The photograph from the criminal complaint — showing Al-Saadi alongside the late Qasem Soleimani, the IRGC Quds Force commander killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020 — was one of the most widely circulated images from the case’s initial unsealing. It places Al-Saadi within the network of Iranian proxy relationships that Soleimani personally managed for decades.
An Iraqi national accused of plotting at least 18 terror attacks in Europe in retaliation for the US and Israel’s war in Iran has been arrested and charged with supporting Iran-backed terrorist organisations. “This case puts into stark relief the global threats posed by the Iranian regime and its proxies like Kata’ib Hizballah — Foreign Terrorist Organisations that have repeatedly targeted Jewish communities across Europe and the United States since the war began,” prosecutors said.
Europe’s Terrorism Landscape Since the Iran War Began
Al-Saadi’s case is the most legally detailed accounting yet of the terrorist dimension of the Iran war’s spillover into Europe — but it is not an isolated incident. It sits within a broader pattern of increased terrorist threat assessment across European capitals since February 28.
European security services have raised threat levels since the war began, citing the risk of Iran-inspired or Iran-directed attacks on Western targets in retaliation for US and Israeli military operations. The attacks alleged in the Al-Saadi complaint — targeting banks, Jewish institutions, and individuals — are consistent with the threat typology that European counter-terrorism agencies have been warning about.
The geographic spread of the attacks — Amsterdam, Paris, London, Germany, Canada — reflects a diaspora of Iran-aligned networks across Western countries, many of which have Iraqi Shia communities with varying levels of sympathy for or connection to Iran-backed organisations.
The EU’s counter-terrorism coordinator had warned at the start of the Iran war that the combination of a major military conflict involving Iran, social media radicalisation, and diaspora communities with personal connections to the conflict zone created conditions for an elevated terrorist threat across the continent. The Al-Saadi case represents the most significant judicial confirmation of that threat to date.
Al-Saadi’s Statement in Court
Al-Saadi’s decision to declare himself a “prisoner of war” in a Manhattan federal courtroom is legally irrelevant — the charges he faces are under US criminal law, not the laws of armed conflict, and the prisoner of war designation under the Geneva Conventions applies to members of armed forces of a party to an international armed conflict, not to individuals charged with providing material support to terrorist organisations.
But his statement is politically and rhetorically significant. By framing his alleged actions as acts of war rather than terrorism — and by invoking the deaths of children and women as justification — he was making an argument to an audience beyond the courtroom: to the communities that support Iran’s cause and view the US-Israel war with Iran as an act of aggression that justifies retaliation.
“I am a prisoner of war,” Al-Saadi said, adding that children and women were being killed “by your rockets.” He finally was persuaded to sit down as marshals approached.
The courtroom performance — passionate, defiant, brief — will be replayed in pro-Iranian media and social channels. Its function is propaganda as much as legal strategy.
What the Case Reveals About Kata’ib Hizballah
Kata’ib Hizballah — whose name means “Hezbollah Brigades” — is an Iraqi Shia militant group founded in 2007 with direct Iranian support and training. It fought against US forces in Iraq following the 2003 invasion, was involved in the 2019-2020 attacks on US bases in Iraq that preceded the Soleimani assassination, and has been one of the most active Iran-backed groups targeting US interests in the Middle East throughout the current war.
What the Al-Saadi case reveals is the extent to which Kata’ib Hizballah — previously understood primarily as a Middle Eastern military-political organisation — has extended its operational capacity into Europe. The coordination of firebombings, attempted bombings, and stabbings across multiple countries requires logistics, communication, and financing that crosses international borders.
US prosecutors are using the Al-Saadi case to build a public record of how that transnational operational capacity works — evidence that will matter both for this prosecution and for future cases targeting the network.
What Happens Next
Al-Saadi’s not guilty plea sets up a trial in the Southern District of New York. The prosecution will present the evidence detailed in the criminal complaint, including electronic communications, financial records, and testimony from cooperating witnesses. The defence will challenge the characterisation of his actions as terrorism rather than as acts of resistance in an ongoing armed conflict.
The case will take months to proceed to trial. In the meantime, Al-Saadi’s arrest and the unsealing of the complaint have provided European law enforcement with significant intelligence about the network’s operations — intelligence that will inform ongoing counter-terrorism investigations across the continent.
For European cities, the case is a reminder that the Middle East conflict that began on February 28 has produced consequences that extend far beyond the region — into the streets of Amsterdam, Paris, and London, and into a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan.
LoudFact.com is an independent global news and explainer platform. This report is based on reporting from the Associated Press, ABC News, NBC News, The Washington Times, and US News & World Report as of May 15 – June 2, 2026.
