JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Federal prosecutors have charged two men with illegally supplying sensitive technology to Iran that was used in a drone attack in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members and injured more than 40 others.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the arrests of Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, a dual U.S.-Iranian national who lives in Massachusetts, and Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, the co-founder of an Iranian company that officials said makes navigation modules used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ military drone program. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also known as the IRGC, is a branch of the Iranian military that the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
Abedininajafabadi, who lives in Tehran, was arrested Monday in Italy, where American officials are seeking his extradition. Sadeghi was also arrested Monday and made his initial court appearance in Massachusetts.
“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,” Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.
The arrests follow the Jan. 28 attack on a U.S. military base called Tower 22 where a “one-way uncrewed aerial system” impacted housing units at the 350-person outpost near the Syrian border, according to the Defense Department. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group of militants backed by Iran, claimed responsibility for the drone attack. Iran has denied involvement.
According to court filings, an FBI analysis of the drone traced its navigation system back to Abedininajafabadi’s company.
Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett were all killed in the January attack, and 47 others were injured. American military reprisals followed, including airstrikes by B-1B bombers on Iranian-connected groups in Iraq and Syria in February.
‘Humbly hope today’s charges bring some measure of justice’
The three troops killed in the January attack were part of the 926th Engineer Brigade, an Army Reserve combat engineer brigade at Fort Moore, Georgia. Sanders, 24, and Moffett, 23, were horizontal construction engineers while Rivers, 46, was an interior electrician. Sanders and Moffett were posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant.
U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said he hopes the arrests help the families and loved ones of those killed and injured in the attack.
“As a son of a combat veteran, I humbly hope today’s charges bring some measure of justice and accountability to those families,” he said.
Sadeghi and Abedininajafabadi are charged with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which has been used to control trade with Iran. They could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Abedininajafabadi is also charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
A public defender listed in court records for Sadeghi did not immediately return USA TODAY’s request for comment Tuesday.
Feds link drone to SDRA
Federal officials said a drone recovered from the attack site used a navigation system manufactured by Abedininajafabadi’s company, known by the initials SDRA.
U.S. officials allege SDRA has had multiple projects with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Between 2021 and 2022, the vast majority of the firm’s sales of its navigation system, which is used in one-way attack drones, went to the IRGC Aerospace Force, according to prosecutors.
Sadeghi currently works for a microelectronics manufacturer in Massachusetts, and he co-founded a Massachusetts-based technology company that specializes in wearable sensors to provide kinetic monitoring for fitness, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors allege he traveled to Iran in 2016 to request funding for his firm from a foundation tied to Iran’s government in exchange for creating an Iranian company that subsequently worked with Abedininajafabadi’s organization.
According to prosecutors, Sadeghi helped Abedininajafabadi skirt export laws to get U.S.-made electronic components to Iran, some of which were the same type of parts used in SDRA’s drone navigation system. Abedininajafabadi is also accused of creating a Switzerland front company, Illumove SA, to funnel U.S.-origin goods, services, and technology into Iran for his company.
“We believe these two 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,” Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, said in a statement.
Cohen added the prosecution “demonstrates our ongoing commitment to bring to justice anyone who seeks to commit acts of terror against the United States and our allies.”
Contributing: Norman Miller, MetroWest Daily News; Reuters
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