WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice has charged two Iranian nationals and their company for allegedly conspiring to send American-made drone technology to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Unsealed on Monday, the criminal complaint names Hossein Akbari, 63, and Reza Amidi, 62, both Iranian citizens, along with Rah Roshd Company, an Iranian firm accused of acquiring U.S. parts for Iranian-manufactured unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including the Mohajer-6 drone.
“These charges lay bare how U.S.-made technology ended up in the hands of the Iranian military to build attack drones,” said Sue J. Bai of the DOJ’s National Security Division. Officials emphasized the defendants’ use of shell companies, false identities, and front operations in the UAE, Belgium, and China to obscure the drone components’ final destination.
Amidi and Akbari, both at large, allegedly procured servo motors, engines, and pneumatic masts critical to drone operations, using UAE-based front companies to process payments through U.S. banks. Some of these parts were later recovered in Iranian drones deployed by Russia in Ukraine.
Between January 2020 and the present, Amidi and Akbari used Rah Roshd in furtherance of a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions and procure U.S.-origin parts for use in Iranian-manufactured UAVs, including the Mohajer-6 UAV. At least one of those parts was manufactured by a Brooklyn, New York-based company (Company-1). In September 2022, the Ukranian Air Force shot down an Iranian-made Mohajer-6 drone used by the Russian military in Ukraine. The drone recovered by the Ukrainian Air Force contained parts made by several U.S. companies, including Company-1)
To facilitate their scheme, Amidi and Akbari falsely purported to represent companies other than Rah Roshd, including a company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Company-2) and a company based in Belgium (Company-3). The defendants used a “spoofed” email address, containing a misspelled version of Company-2’s name, to communicate regarding the procurement of parts, including parts manufactured by U.S. companies. The defendants also used various “front” or “shell” companies to pay for UAV parts and to obfuscate the true end destination and the true identities of the sanctioned end users, including QAI and the IRGC, which were acquiring U.S.-made parts through Rah Roshd. Amidi and Akbari also used aliases to obfuscate their true identities in furtherance of the scheme.
The complaint also includes a letter from the IRGC’s UAV Command praising Rah Roshd’s role in supporting Iran’s military drone program and its domestic defense manufacturing efforts. The letter emphasized Rah Roshd’s contributions to strengthening “the defensive capabilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The defendants are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to violate export control laws, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Key Points:
- Hossein Akbari and Reza Amidi of Iran, along with Rah Roshd Company, are charged with conspiring to support the IRGC and illegally procure U.S. drone parts.
- The defendants used shell companies and false identities to send U.S. technology to Iran for military use, including in drones found in Ukraine.
- Charges include conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization and money laundering.