Dec. 19 (UPI) — The United States took aim at Tehran’s drone industry Tuesday, deploying sanctions and unsealing an indictment that target a procurement network present in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
The Biden administration said the international network is led by 38-year-old Iranian Hossein Hatefi Ardakani — an Iranian citizen accused of facilitating the procurement of U.S.- and foreign-origin components valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars for the aerospace research and development arm of the U.S.-designated Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its drone program.
“Iran’s illicit production and proliferation of its deadly UAVs to its terrorist proxies in the Middle East and to Russia continues to exacerbate tensions and prolong conflicts, undermining stability,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.
The Treasury on Tuesday sanctioned Ardakani along with three other people and 10 entities, including front companies, in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia on accusations of being a part of his international procurement network.
Coinciding with the blacklisting, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment charging Ardakani and 41-year-old Gary Lam, whom the Treasury sanctioned in October along with 10 others for supporting Iran’s missile and drone programs.
The court document specifically charges them with conspiracy to export U.S. goods to Iran and defraud the United States, unlawfully exporting and attempting to export goods to Iran and conspiracy to engage in international money laundering, the most severe of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment.
Prosecutors have accused the pair of conspiring to purchase and export dual-use microelectronics used in drone production from the United States to Iran between at least September 2014 and September 2015. The components in question are under U.S. export controls for anti-terrorism, national security and regional stability reasons, according to the Justice Department.
Lam, who is based in Hong Kong and China, and Ardakani are further accused of working with other co-conspirators to obfuscate and evade detection of their illegal purchases and exportations through the use of a constellation of foreign companies. Prosecutors said they employed this tactic at least four times.
The Justice Department said Tuesday that it has also seized some $800,000 from companies tied to the network.
“U.S. technology has zero place in Iranian UAVs,” Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod of the Department of Commerce said in a statement.
“As these allegations demonstrate, those who procure dual-use microelectronics for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will be held accountable.”
The Justice Department said that Ardakani and Lam both remain at large.
