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Iranian national sentenced to 18 months for smuggling U.S. military sonar parts to Iran

Prosecutors said Reza Dindar used a China-based company to conceal the equipment’s intended destination and circumvent U.S. sanctions and export controls.

Gavel, Scales of Justice
The scales of justice on top of a gavel’s block. Credit: Sergei Tokmakov/Pixabay.

Reza Dindar, an Iranian citizen who used a China-based company to conceal plans to ship U.S. military sonar parts to Iran, was sentenced Friday in Seattle to 18 months in prison for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Dindar, 44, pleaded guilty to two counts of exporting goods to an embargoed country and two counts of smuggling goods from the United States. U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez also ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine and serve three years of supervised release.

According to court records, Dindar managed New Port Sourcing Solutions in Xi’an, China, from 2010 to 2014. In 2011 and 2012, he and his co-conspirators used the company to purchase parts for three military sonar systems from a Washington state supplier, falsely claiming the equipment was destined for a company in China. The parts were then to be routed through China to Iran without the required U.S. authorization. The equipment was valued at about $97,600, according to the indictment.

A federal grand jury indicted Dindar on nine counts in August 2014. He was arrested in Panama in July 2025 at the request of U.S. authorities and extradited to the United States in April 2026. He pleaded guilty in June.

At Friday’s sentencing, Martinez stated that “the offense was well over 10 years ago and Mr. Dindar spent significant time in a Panamanian prison.”

According to an April detention order, Dindar is an Iranian citizen who had “been residing in China and Iran, which do not have extradition treaties with the United States.”

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