An Iranian living in a Boston suburb has been arrested for his alleged role in an Iranian drone attack that killed three U.S. service members and wounded 40 at a U.S. Army base in Jordan on Jan. 28.
On Monday, Iranian-born Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, a resident of Natick, Mass., and Mohammad Abedini of Tehran, Iran, were charged in federal court in Boston “with conspiring to export sophisticated electronic components from the United States to Iran in violation of U.S. export control and sanctions laws.”
Abedini was also charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC was designated as an FTO in 2019 by the U.S. federal government.
“Earlier this year, Iran-backed militias murdered three American soldiers and wounded dozens more in a brutal drone attack at the Tower 22 base in Jordan,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said. “Today, working with our partners here and abroad, we have charged and arrested two men who conspired to evade U.S. sanctions and supply the Iranian government with the type of drone navigation technology used in that attack. Our message is unmistakable: if you provide support to the Iranian regime’s campaign of terror and violence targeting Americans – we will find you, arrest you, and hold you accountable in a U.S. court, no matter where you are.”
Both men were arrested on Monday; Sadeghi in Natick and Abedini in Italy by Italian officials at the request of U.S. authorities, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Abedini is the founder and managing director of San’at Danesh Rahpooyan Aflak Co. (SDRA), an Iranian-based company that manufactures drones for the IRGC’s military drone program.
For years, and multiple times, Sadeghi, and others, allegedly conspired to evade U.S. export control and sanctions laws by procuring goods, services, and technology from American companies and exporting them to Iran and Abedini’s Iranian company in violation of federal law, according to the complaint.
Sadeghi, who has worked for a Massachusetts-based microelectronics manufacturer was also a founder of a Massachusetts-based technology company that specializes in wearable sensors that provide kinetic monitoring for fitness applications, the complaint states.
In order to skirt U.S. export restrictions, Abedini created a Switzerland-based front company for SDRA to enter into a contract with Sadeghi’s company, transferring products from the U.S. through Switzerland to Iran, according to the complaint.
“Holding culpable people accountable for the death and maiming of U.S. service men and women bravely serving our nation abroad is about as important a prosecution as there is. These allegations make clear the grievous harm that can result when highly sophisticated American technologies subject to export controls end up in the hands of our adversaries,” U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said.
Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, said they believe Sadeghi and Abedini “conspired to illegally procure sophisticated U.S. technology, made right here in Massachusetts, for one of the world’s most infamous state sponsors of terrorism – in an effort to help the Government of Iran strengthen its arsenal of weapons.”
Their efforts helped “facilitate men conspired to illegally procure sophisticated U.S. technology, made right here in Massachusetts, for one of the world’s most infamous state sponsors of terrorism – in an effort to help the Government of Iran strengthen its arsenal of weapons,” U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Export Enforcement, Boston Field Office, Special Agent in Charge James Guanci said.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said, “Export laws exist to keep cutting-edge U.S. technology out of the hands of foreign terrorist organizations. When sensitive drone technology is supplied to the IRGC – as alleged in this case – it places our military at risk and imperils American citizens.”
Both men each face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million for a conspiracy charge to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Abedini faces up to life in prison for conspiracy to provide material support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization, resulting in death.
The arrests were made after an unprecedented number of Iranian and special interest aliens have been apprehended after illegally entering the country, The Center Square reported.
It was also announced after Islamic terrorist incidents increased under the Biden administration and after the president extended a national emergency regarding Iran last month.
The U.S. has been in a perpetual state of national emergency related to Iran since Nov. 14, 1979, The Center Square reported.
