Accused terror commander Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi worked through a new Iranian-backed terrorist group that emerged “essentially overnight” after the outset US-Israel war and urged followers to kill President Trump.
The group — Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HIYA) — appeared in March 2026 after the war against Iran started and in just weeks the group was able to carry out 18 bombings, stabbings, and arson attacks targeting Americans and Jews in Europe, according to prosecutors.
“Essentiall overnight, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya was able to activate terrorist cells across Europe to carry out nearly 20 attacks in the weeks immediately following that start of the Iranian Military Conflict,” reads an indictment in the Southern District of New York filed on Friday.
He is alleged to have been involved in the planning and promoted the attacks carried out by Hiya, prosecutors said.
Al-Saadi on April 20 posted a message threatening Trump to Snapchat with the Hiya logo, which is a raised fist holding a rifle.
Al-Saadi implored Hiya acolytes to “kill this arrogant, criminal, cursed Trump.”
“We direct our message to the free people of America, especially the security services, the Secret Service, and the victims of Epstein Island, where the blood of families was spilled and the lives of children were taken,” the screed read.
Hiya is considered a new front organization for the Iran-backed group Kata’ib Hizballah — the terror group in which al-Saadi is alleged to be a high-ranking official.
Following the March 9 synagogue bombing in Liege, Belgium — the first of 18 attacks across Europe — al-Saadi allegedly posted the HIYA symbol on Telegram along with a message prosecutors describe as urging further violence, according to court documents.
In that post, the 32-year-old called on “warriors of Islam” to wage jihad and to “set out where the darkness shelters,” according to the indictment.
After al-Saadi’s call for jihad through Hiya Telegram channels, a spree of antisemitic and anti-American attacks sprouted across Europe, including the March 15 bombing of the Bank of New York Mellon in Amsterdam, the March 23 arson attack on Jewish ambulances in London, and the April 29 double stabbing of two Jews in London.
He was arrested in Turkey on Wednesday after sending a federal agent posing as a Mexican cartel member money to carry out an arson attack on an unnamed New York synagogue.
Al-Saadi is facing charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorist groups, conspiracy to bomb a place of public use, and other charges.
