“We Are in a War.” An Alleged Iran-Backed Commander Said It Out Loud in a U.S. Court.
Shackled at the feet and wearing a beige prison uniform, the defendant did not wait for his lawyer. As attorney Andrew Dalack entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf in a Manhattan federal courtroom on June 1, 2026, the man spoke through an Arabic interpreter: “I am not guilty, and we are in a war situation.”Then, gesturing toward the bench and the prosecutors, he added: “Children are being killed by your rockets.”
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon raised her voice and ordered him seated; two U.S. marshals stepped toward the defense table, and he complied. The man is Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, 32, whom federal prosecutors describe as a senior commander of Kata’ib Hizballah — an Iran-backed Iraqi militia the United States designates a foreign terrorist organization — and an operative working with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The outburst is the rare moment when the premise of a terrorism case is stated by the defendant himself, in open court. According to the indictment, Al-Saadi helped direct roughly two dozen attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and Canada and tried to hire someone in the United States to bomb a New York synagogue — all framed, the government alleges, as retaliation for the 2026 U.S.–Israel war against Iran. The case is pending; he is presumed innocent until a jury says otherwise. What follows is drawn from the Justice Department’s own filings and the court record.
- 8counts in the indictment — including conspiracy to provide material support to Kata’ib Hizballah and the IRGC — SDNY indictment · May 28, 2026
- ~20attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and Canada the government attributes to his network — DOJ / SDNY complaint
- 3Jewish targets in the U.S. plot — a New York synagogue plus centers in California and Arizona — criminal complaint · TIME
- $3,000in cryptocurrency he allegedly paid an undercover officer toward the New York attack — DOJ complaint, via TIME
- Lifethe statutory maximum he faces if convicted on the most serious counts — DOJ / SDNY
A not-guilty plea, and then a confession of premise. He pleaded innocent and called it a war in the same breath.
The arraignment was brief. Through his court-appointed attorney, Andrew Dalack, Al-Saadi entered a plea of not guilty to all eight counts of the superseding indictment. Then, before the hearing could close, the defendant spoke for himself. “I am not guilty, and we are in a war situation,” he said in Arabic, the interpreter relaying it to the room. He gestured toward Judge McMahon and the prosecution table and added that “children are being killed by your rockets,” without specifying which strike or conflict he meant.
It is an unusual thing to witness. Defendants in terrorism cases almost never volunteer the framing the government has to prove. The indictment’s theory is that Al-Saadi acted as a combatant in a campaign directed by a foreign state and its proxies; the defendant’s own words — “we are in a war” — restate that theory from the dock. Whether that framing is a legal defense or an admission is for the court, not this page, to decide. We report only what the record shows he said.
“I am not guilty, and we are in a war situation. Children are being killed by your rockets.”
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, in Manhattan federal court · June 1, 2026
Eight counts, two terrorist organizations, one possible life sentence. Every word of this is the indictment’s allegation.
Al-Saadi was first charged by criminal complaint, unsealed in the Southern District of New York on May 15, 2026, then indicted on May 28, 2026. The indictment carries eight counts of terrorism-related offenses tied to his alleged role as an operative of Kata’ib Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — both U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations. The counts include two separate conspiracies to provide material support to those organizations, conspiracy to provide material support for acts of terrorism, conspiracy to bomb a place of public use, and destruction of property by means of fire or explosives. Convicted on the most serious counts, prosecutors say, he faces up to life in prison.
- →Two counts of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization — charged separately for Kata'ib Hizballah and the IRGC.
- →Conspiracy to provide, and the provision of, material support for acts of terrorism.
- →Conspiracy to bomb a place of public use, and destruction of property by means of fire or explosives.
- →Alleged role: a high-level Kata'ib Hizballah commander running a front called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, working with the IRGC since at least 2017.
- →Maximum exposure: life imprisonment on the most serious counts, per the Justice Department.
DOJ: An Iraqi national and alleged Kata'ib Hizballah commander has been charged in the Southern District of New York with providing material support to Iranian-backed terrorist organizations and directing attacks targeting U.S. citizens and interests. (Profile link; full release in Sources.)
Amsterdam, Toronto, London, Paris — and then New York. The map the government drew spans three continents.
The government alleges that, beginning in late February 2026, Al-Saadi and associates planned, coordinated, or claimed responsibility for at least 18 attacks in Europe and two more in Canada, carried out in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya — what prosecutors call a component of Kata’ib Hizballah. The complaint lists a mid-March firebombing of the Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam, a shooting at the U.S. consulate in Toronto, the stabbing of an American in London, and a thwarted attack on a Bank of America office in Paris on March 28. According to the filings, several of the targets were Jewish institutions, banks, and media outlets.
Court documents, prosecutors say, include images of Al-Saadi meeting with Qasem Soleimani, the IRGC-Quds Force commander killed in a 2020 U.S. drone strike — an attempt to place the defendant inside the senior tier of the Iranian-controlled militia network. The throughline the government draws is timing: the campaign, it alleges, began in retaliation after the United States and Israel went to war against Iran, and was directed at U.S. and Israeli interests wherever they could be reached.
A synagogue, an undercover officer, and a crypto payment. The plot that brought the campaign onto American soil.
The count that moved the case from a foreign-fraud matter to a domestic-terror prosecution is the New York plot. In March and April 2026, the government alleges, Al-Saadi sought to carry out simultaneous attacks on a prominent New York City synagogue and Jewish centers in Los Angeles, California, and Scottsdale, Arizona. He chose the New York synagogue, the complaint says, because it was “a beacon for solidarity and support to Israel.”
To execute it, prosecutors allege, Al-Saadi tried to recruit a man he believed to be a Mexican cartel operative — in fact an undercover law-enforcement officer — and handed over photographs and maps marking the targets. He then allegedly paid roughly $3,000 in cryptocurrency in anticipation of the New York attack, part of a sum the government says he was prepared to spend to see it carried out. On or about April 30, 2026, the complaint states, he contacted that U.S.-based individual seeking help with an attack involving “burning” or “killing” people. The attacks never occurred.
- →Targets: a prominent New York City synagogue, plus Jewish centers in Los Angeles, CA, and Scottsdale, AZ.
- →Method: recruit a supposed cartel operative — actually an undercover officer — and provide photos and maps of the sites.
- →Payment: roughly $3,000 in cryptocurrency paid in anticipation of the New York synagogue attack.
- →Stated motive: the New York synagogue was chosen as 'a beacon for solidarity and support to Israel.'
- →Outcome: no attack was carried out; the plot was disrupted by the FBI.
The FBI disrupted an alleged Iran-backed plot to attack a New York synagogue and Jewish centers in California and Arizona, arresting a senior Kata'ib Hizballah commander accused of directing terror attacks against Americans and Jews.
Paraphrased commentary · not a verbatim post
Paraphrased from FBI statements; representative of the Bureau's public account of the case.
Who brought the case, and who they say sent him. The prosecution has names; so does the network it describes.
The case was announced by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg, with FBI Director Kash Patelconfirming the arrest. Patel described Al-Saadi as “a high-value target responsible for mass global terrorism” and called the operation “a righteous mission executed brilliantly.” Acting AG Blanche said Al-Saadi had been “directly involved in terrorist operations and military decisions to attack U.S. and Israeli interests across the world.”
- Jay ClaytonU.S. Attorney, Southern District of New YorkThe office prosecuting the case; announced both the May 15 complaint and the May 28 indictment.
- Todd BlancheActing Attorney GeneralSaid Al-Saadi was 'directly involved in terrorist operations and military decisions to attack U.S. and Israeli interests across the world' and pledged to 'vigorously prosecute him under American law in an American courtroom.'
- John A. EisenbergAssistant Attorney General for National SecurityJoined the announcement; the DOJ National Security Division oversees international-terrorism prosecutions of this kind.
- Kash PatelFBI DirectorConfirmed the arrest, calling Al-Saadi 'a high-value target responsible for mass global terrorism.'
FBI Director Kash Patel: the arrest of an alleged senior Kata'ib Hizballah commander accused of directing terror attacks on Americans and Jews was 'a righteous mission executed brilliantly' by the Bureau and its partners. (Profile link; statement quoted in Sources.)
An alleged Kata'ib Hizballah commander tied to Iran's IRGC now faces terrorism charges in New York for directing attacks on Americans and Jews abroad and plotting to bomb a New York synagogue. We will prosecute him under American law in an American courtroom.
Paraphrased commentary · not a verbatim post
Paraphrased from DOJ statements; representative of the department's public account of the case.
One courtroom, a much larger pattern. The case sits inside a documented record of Iran-directed threats on U.S. soil.
The arrest came amid heightened U.S. scrutiny of Iran-backed militias following the 2026 U.S.–Israel war against Iran. Al-Saadi was detained while traveling abroad — taken into custody in Turkey in May, in a joint operation, before being transferred to FBI custody and flown to New York. That a foreign militia commander could be brought to a Manhattan courtroom at all reflects how far the prosecution’s reach now extends into the proxy network Tehran directs.
The case is one data point in a longer, documented pattern of Iran-directed plots against targets on American soil — from earlier murder-for-hire allegations against dissidents and former U.S. officials to the synagogue plot charged here. The defendant is presumed innocent, and every allegation above is the government’s to prove before a jury. But his own words in court — “we are in a war” — are now part of the record, and they frame, in the defendant’s voice, exactly the threat U.S. prosecutors say they are confronting.
