The New York Post reported on Sunday, April 19, that an Iranian businesswoman with a U.S. Green Card was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport over allegations that she was involved in weapons deals linked to the Islamic Republic.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, 44-year-old Shamim Mafi, a resident of Woodland Hills, was taken into custody on Saturday evening. She is accused of arranging deals involving drones, bombs, and millions of rounds of ammunition that were meant to be shipped to Sudan.
Court documents say Mafi left Iran in 2013 and received U.S. permanent residency in 2016 during the Obama administration. Investigators allege that she handled these transactions through an Oman-registered company called "Atlas International Business."
One of the deals mentioned in the case is a contract worth more than $70 million for the sale of "Mohajer-6" drones produced by Iran’s Ministry of Defense. According to the documents, those drones, along with 55,000 bomb fuses, were transferred as part of agreements with the Sudanese Ministry of Defense, while the country has been in civil war since 2023.
Authorities also said that phone records show Mafi was in direct contact with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence between 2022 and 2025. Prosecutors added that she did not have the legal authorization required to carry out such transactions.
Mafi, however, has told investigators that she was never instructed by Islamic Republic officials to carry out activities inside the United States.
Another part of the case file says that properties Mafi inherited from her father were confiscated by Iranian authorities in 2020. She was later allegedly asked to set up a company in the United States to buy back those assets. Prosecutors claim that Tehran also offered to provide the initial funding for that effort.
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