‘Get Focused on London’: How Iran’s Agents Attacked European Targets

A wave of assaults in Britain and elsewhere in the spring sowed fear across Europe. Prosecutors shed new light on how Iran took aim at U.S. allies. As the U.S.-Israel war in Iran raged earlier this year, a man linked to Iranian criminal networks perched in front of a computer, on a video call with a teenager in London. The man wanted to make sure the teen, who was moments away from setting fire to a synagogue, carried out his plans.

“Light it up like a Christman tree,” the man, an Iraqi named Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, urged the 17-year-old, according to U.S. prosecutors. The teen climbed over a wall and tossed a bomb through a broken window. “J’s mic is muted,” read the text on Mr. al-Hassani’s computer screen.

The synagogue arson in April was a small, violent part of Iran’s efforts to force an end to the bombing campaign that was pummeling the country, according to American investigators. The attack was described in a federal indictment filed in New York this week. It revealed extensive new details about a wave of violence against Jewish institutions in Europe and U.S.