An Iraqi national accused of plotting to attack a New York City synagogue during the Jewish festival of Passover and other sites across the United States and Europe in retaliation for the U.S. war in Iran has been arrested and charged with supporting Iran-backed terrorist organizations.
According to a complaint unsealed Friday in federal court in Manhattan, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi sought to attack the NYC synagogue in April and provided an undercover law enforcement officer — whom he promised to pay $10,000 in cryptocurrency — with photos and maps of the synagogue, plus Jewish centers in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Arizona, he also planned to target.
The Manhattan temple, described by federal authorities as “prominent,” was not identified in the complaint.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the synagogue targeted in the attack as “the heart of our Jewish community,” while speaking at another Jewish house of worship on the Upper East Side.
“He chose that synagogue because it was, and I quote, ‘a beacon for solidarity and support for Israel and the Zionist objectives,’ Tisch said during a Friday service at Temple Emanu-El, which she emphasized was not targeted. “The leadership of the (targeted) synagogue was notified, and we continue our work with them to ensure the synagogue’s safety.”
The complaint says that on April 3, Al-Saadi allegedly talked on the phone with an undercover officer posing as a Mexican cartel member and texted him a photo of the Manhattan synagogue, a map and a document in Arabic that described the “synagogue’s congregation as one supporting ‘the right for Israel to exist,’” the complaint said.
The undercover was also asked if he would use a bomb or set a fire, the complaint said, with Al-Saadi saying what was “most important” was that the attack was recorded. The next day, Al-Saadi sent the undercover $3,000 for the Manhattan attack and was told by the undercover the attack would happen April 5, the complaint said. The Jewish festival of Passover, which lasts for eight days, began the evening of April 1.
But the attack never happened, with the undercover the day after that sending Al-Saadi a video showing a large police presence at the synagogue, the complaint said. The NYPD worked with the feds to foil the plot.
“Working with our law enforcement partners, we disrupted a plot against a Manhattan synagogue, and in partnership with the synagogue’s leadership, ensured its security when the threat was elevated,” Tisch said on X.
“The NYPD’s work in this case, from officers assigned to the JTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force), to intelligence analysis provided through our international liaison program, helped protect the streets of our city.”
The feds said Al-Saadi also targeted a bank in Amsterdam and accused him of involvement in two recent attacks in Canada: an attack on a synagogue and a shooting at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto in March.
“Thanks to the dedication and vigilance of law enforcement, this alleged terrorist commander is now in U.S. custody,” acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “As alleged in the complaint, Al-Saadi directed and urged others to attack U.S. and Israeli interests and to kill Americans and Jews in the U.S. and abroad, and in doing so advance the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. These charges show American law enforcement will never let such evil go unchecked, and will use all tools to disrupt and dismantle foreign terrorist organizations and their leaders.”
Al-Saadi is charged with conspiracy to provide material support to Kata’ib Hizballah, an Iran-backed Iraqi Shia militant group, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, both of which have been designated by the U.S. government as foreign terrorist organizations.
He is also charged with conspiring and providing material support for acts of terrorism and conspiring to bomb a place of public use.
![An investigator checks the damage as he stands outside an Israeli restaurant where the windows were broken after pyrotechnic devices were thrown into the dining area early Friday, April 10, 2026, in Munich, Germany.Al-Saadi later posted a propaganda video on Snapchat in which Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya claimed credit for the attack. The video showed damage from the attack with a warning that "[the attack] could have happened during the day." (Felix Hörhager/dpa via AP)](https://i0.wp.com/www.nydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/AP26100197604038.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
Al-Saadi later posted a propaganda video on Snapchat in which Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya claimed credit for the attack. The video
showed damage from the attack with a warning that “[the attack] could have happened during the
day.” (Felix Hörhager/dpa via AP)
Al-Saadi did not speak at his initial court appearance, but through his lawyer claimed he’s a political prisoner and a prisoner of war, and that he’s being persecuted by U.S. authorities for his relationship with Qasem Soleimani, the Revolutionary Guard leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.
Al-Saadi was not required to enter a plea. He will remain jailed but could ask for bail in the future.
Al-Saadi’s lawyer, Andrew Dalack, said Al-Saadi was arrested in Turkey and turned over to U.S. authorities. Al-Saadi has been kept in solitary confinement since he was brought to a federal jail in Brooklyn on Thursday night, Dalack said.
