A New York court case has revealed how Iran is allegedly using technology and criminal networks to recruit “disposable” operatives for attacks in Western countries who may not even be ideological supporters of the regime.
The case centres on 32-year-old Iraqi national Mohammed Saad Baqer al-Saadi, who US authorities say is a senior commander in the Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah. He is accused of being linked to multiple attacks and plots targeting Jewish community sites in the US and Europe.
The alleged attacks include firebombings of synagogues and community centres in Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK, as well as a stabbing attack in Golders Green, London, last month that injured two Jewish men, according to The Guardian.
Al-Saadi was detained in Turkey and later brought before a court in New York. He has not entered a plea, and his lawyer has claimed he is a political prisoner.
Prosecutors allege Al-Saadi used cryptocurrency to pay an undercover FBI agent $3,000 upfront and promised another $7,000 if attacks on a synagogue and Jewish community centres in the US were carried out and recorded.
Officials believe this is a new style of international terrorism and covert operations. Instead of sending highly trained spies or building secret sleeper-agent networks, groups now allegedly use online platforms and networks of intermediaries to recruit people remotely.
Intelligence handlers can recruit people online through social media, encrypted messaging apps and intermediaries without ever meeting them in person. Many are motivated by money and are treated as “disposable” operatives because they can easily be replaced if arrested or exposed.
Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Finance and Security at London’s Royal United Services Institute, said handlers no longer even need to be in the same country or time zone as the people carrying out attacks. He described such recruits as “cannon fodder” and “useful idiots” who are used for dangerous tasks.
Authorities say encrypted apps, social media and cryptocurrency payments have made it easier for groups to organise attacks remotely while hiding their direct involvement.
“It is still terrorism, it still has a political agenda and is an attack meant to terrorise a particular community, whether that is the Jewish community or an entire nation but the perpetrator is not necessarily radicalised as such,” said Peter Neumann, a leading expert in terrorism at King’s College London.