Iranian American woman arrested for trafficking arms for Tehran

LOS ANGELES: An Iranian-American who traded millions of dollars in arms for the Iranian government has been arrested in the United States. Shamim Mafi, 44, was arrested at the Los Angeles airport on Saturday for allegedly trafficking arms on behalf of the Iranian government. Armed drones, bomb fuses, and weapons for the civil war in Sudan were seized from Shamim, confirmed The New York Times.

Shamim Mafi has been charged by the US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California with illegal arms dealing. The arms trade was conducted by a company registered in Oman under the name Atlas International Business. The Ministry of Defense has transferred 55,000 bomb fuses to Sudan, which has been in civil war since 2023. A $70 million contract was signed for Iranian weapons Mohajer-6 armed drones. Authorities said Shamim Mafi had no legal right to conduct such a large arms trade.

Authorities said in court documents that they had direct contact with the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security for three years. Shamim Mafi, who left Iran in 2013, received US citizenship in 2016. Shamim Mafi denied that she had conducted such arms trade for the Iranian regime.

The assets Shamim received from her father were seized by Iranian authorities in 2020. The Iranian Interior Ministry had asked Shamim Mafi to start a business in the United States to get them back. She had told Iranian intelligence officials that she was more valuable by working for Iran outside Iran. The Iranian woman was arrested in the United States as US Vice President J D Vance was scheduled to arrive in Pakistan with his delegation for the second round of peace talks with Iran.