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HomeFOREIGN DESKLAWFARE & WARFAREFounder of Iranian Company Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi Arrested for Supporting Islamic Revolutionary...

Founder of Iranian Company Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi Arrested for Supporting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC Military Drones Killing U.S. Servicemembers

Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, 42, a dual U.S.-Iranian national of Natick, Massachusetts, and Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, also known as Mohammad Abedini (Abedini), 38, of Tehran, Iran, have been charged with conspiring to export sophisticated electronic components from the United States to Iran in violation of U.S. export control and sanctions laws.

Abedini is also charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organisation that resulted in the deaths of three U.S. service members who were killed by a one-way attack on an unmanned aerial vehicle, also known as a drone, on a military base in Jordan.

Sadeghi was arrested and made his initial appearance today in the District of Massachusetts. Abedini was also arrested today in Italy by Italian authorities at the request of the United States.

“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,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.

These defendants are charged with supplying sensitive technology to an Iranian company that develops technology the IRGC uses in its one-way attack drones to commit acts of terror around the world, said Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod of the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security.

According to court documents, Abedini is the founder and managing director of an Iranian company, San’at Danesh Rahpooyan Aflak Co. (SDRA or SADRA), which manufactures navigation modules used in the IRGC’s military drone program. SDRA’s main business is selling a proprietary navigation system — the Sepehr Navigation System — to the IRGC, which the United States designated as an FTO on April 15, 2019.

The primary application of SDRA’s Sepehr Navigation System is in UAVs and cruise and ballistic missiles. Sadeghi is currently employed by a Massachusetts-based microelectronics manufacturer (U.S. Company 1) and was one of the founders of a Massachusetts-based technology company (U.S. Company 2) specialising in wearable sensors that provide kinetic monitoring for fitness applications.

As alleged in court documents, Abedini, Sadeghi, and others conspired to evade U.S. export control and sanctions laws by procuring U.S.-origin goods, services, and technology from, among others, U.S. Company 1 and causing those goods, services, and technology to be exported or otherwise supplied to Iran and, in particular, Abedini’s Iranian company, SDRA.

As further alleged, in or around 2016, Sadeghi travelled to Iran to request funding for U.S. Company 2 from the Iranian National Elites Foundation (INEF), an Iranian governmental organization whose main purpose is to recognize, organise, and support Iran’s elite national talents. In exchange for funding for U.S. Company 2, which Sadeghi’s company ultimately received from the INEF, Sadeghi and others created a second company in Iran (Iranian Company 1).

Shortly after forming Iranian Company 1, Sadeghi, through Iranian Company 1, entered into a contract with SDRA to purchase SDRA’s technology. It is also alleged that, since in or around 2016, Sadeghi has helped Abedini procure U.S. export-controlled electronic components for Abedini’s use in Iran on multiple occasions.

Due to U.S. laws restricting exports to Iran, Abedini established a Switzerland front company for SDRA, Illumove SA (Illumove).

With Sadeghi’s assistance, Abedini, through Illumove, entered into a contract with U.S. Company 1 to develop a mechanism to evaluate U.S. Company 1’s electronic components, including sophisticated semiconductors. Sadeghi and Abedini subsequently caused U.S.-origin goods, services, and technology to be transferred to Iran through Illumove for the benefit of SDRA.

Certain of the electronic components that Abedini obtained through Illumove were the same types of electronic components used in SDRA’s Sepehr Navigation System.

Abedini is also charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, the IRGC, specifically the IRGC Aerospace Force, which is the strategic missile, air, and space force within the IRGC.

Since at least in or about 2014, SDRA has had multiple projects with the IRGC Aerospace Force, including projects for guided rockets and integrated navigation systems. As alleged, between 2021 and 2022, approximately 99% of SDRA’s sales of the Sepehr Navigation System, which are used in IRGC one-way attack drones, were to the IRGC’s Aerospace Force.

On Jan. 28, three U.S. service members were killed, and more than forty others were injured, in a drone attack by IRGC-backed militants on a military base located in northern Jordan, known as Tower 22.

According to court documents, FBI analysis of the drone that was recovered from the site of the attack showed that the drone was an Iranian Shahed UAV and that the navigation system used in the drone was the Sepehr Navigation System, which Abedini’s company, SDRA, manufactured.   

Sadeghi and Abedini were charged by criminal complaint with one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economics Powers Act, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, three years supervised release, and a fine of up to $1 million. Abedini was also charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to an FTO, resulting in death, and one count of provision and attempted provision of material support to an FTO, resulting in death, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison, lifetime supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. 

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