Two men and an Iran-based company were charged for their roles in an illicit weapons procurement network that benefited Iran, the Justice Department announced.
Hossein Akbari and Rexa Amidi concealed Rah Roshd’s identity to evade U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iran and buy American parts for Iran’s drones since 2020, the Justice Department said in a Tuesday release. Rah Roshd is an Iranian company that manufactures ground support systems for attack drones and provides security systems to the government of Iran, the Justice Department said.
Some of the parts Akbari and Amidi acquired were found on an Iranian-made attack drone the Russian military used in Ukraine, prosecutors said. The Ukrainian Air Force shot the device down in September 2022.
Akbari is the CEO of Rah Roshd and Amidi works as a commercial manager. Rah Roshd’s clients included Iranian state-owned aerospace company Qods Aviation Industries and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, prosecutors said. According to the National Counter Terrorism Center, the IRGC is a branch of the Iranian armed forces and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S.
“The allegations in this case demonstrate the lengths Iranian companies take to evade U.S. sanctions, victimize U.S. businesses, and support the IRGC’s production of drones,” Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division said in the release.
Akbari and Amidi were also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The Justice Department said Akbari and Amidi are both citizens of Iran and remain at large.
Feds: Akbari, Amidi concealed their names
According to court papers, Akbari and Amidi used aliases and posed as employees of several companies, including one from the United Arab Emirates, throughout the scheme to evade detection from the U.S. The two men also used shell companies to pay a Chinese company for parts and hide where shipments were being sent.
Akbari and Amidi would enter agreements with each other “and with others” to export items from the U.S., and reship them to Iran, an FBI agent wrote in charging documents.
“In connection with this agreement, between in or around January 2020 and February 2024, Amidi frequently sent emails to Akbari requesting that Akbari provide price quotations for electronic parts that Amidi specified (including by manufacturer and quantity) so that Amidi could send those prices to the defendants’ customers,” the agent wrote. “Akbari, using the aliases ‘Danial Yousef’ and ‘Danial White,’ then requested quotations for such parts from supplier companies based in China, the United Arab Emirates, and Germany, among other countries, and forwarded those companies’ prices to Amidi.”
In one instance, a supplier in China quoted parts made by a Brooklyn, New York, company. Iran then used those parts to make the Mohajer-6 drone and supplied the Russian military with the drone.
The Ukrainian Air Force shot down the drone in September 2022 and discovered parts from several American companies.
Prosecutors said the IRGC thanked Rah Roshd for its work on behalf of the military. It also praised “Rah Roshd’s achievements in designing and manufacturing ‘servo motors’ for defense equipment.” Investigators found documents showing that Akbari and Amidi purchased the motors for delivery to Iran. One of the motors was found on the downed Mohajer-6 drone.
Treasury Department sanctions several for providing parts to Iran
The U.S. Treasury Department announced Tuesday that it sanctioned several people and entities that it believes are helping the Iranian government and state-affiliated companies acquire drone parts. The department said the action targets “Iranian weapons proliferators.”
The department issued the sanctions against Iranians Amidi, Akbari and Abbas Yousefnejad, an alternate inspector for Rah Roshd; as well as several companies based in the UAE, Iran and China, according to the release. The move generally prohibits any people or companies in the U.S. from doing any business with the targets and freezes U.S.-held assets.
“Iran’s proliferation of UAVs and missiles — both to its terrorist proxies in the region and to Russia for its use against Ukraine — continues to threaten civilians, U.S. personnel, and our allies and partners,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “Treasury will continue to disrupt Iran’s military-industrial complex and its proliferation of UAVs, missiles, and conventional weapons that often end up in the hands of destabilizing actors, including terrorist proxies.”