Federal agents arrested Shamim Mafi at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday night, before the Iranian national boarded a flight out of the country, for allegedly trafficking weapons for the Iranian regime, the Justice Department said.
Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, was charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and faces up to 20 years in federal prison, the department said on Monday.
“This individual came from Iran and gained legal status under the Obama administration,” stated Todd Blanche, acting U.S. attorney general. “While enjoying a life in the United States, this woman was allegedly breaking the law by brokering lethal weapons deals with Iranian adversaries. This will not stand, and anyone who breaks our laws and threatens national security will be prosecuted to the fullest extent.”
According to the department, Mafi, who owns and runs a company in Oman, became a lawful permanent resident in October 2016.
“In early 2025, Mafi brokered weapons deals on Iran’s behalf through her company,” including a contract worth more than $70 million “for the sale of the Iranian-made Mohajer-6 drone from Iran’s defense ministry to Sudan’s military,” the Justice Department alleged. “She coordinated the Sudanese delegation’s travel to Iran and was paid more than $7 million.”
“She also brokered the sale of 55,000 bomb fuses to Sudan and submitted a letter of intent to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to purchase the bomb fuses for Sudan,” per the department. “Mafi also brokered the sale of millions of rounds of ammunition from Iran to Sudan.”
Under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Americans must receive permission from the U.S. Treasury Department to do business with goods or services tied to the Iranian government, and they cannot work with people whom the federal government has blocked, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated terror group, and the Iranian defense ministry.
“At no time did Mafi apply for or obtain the required licenses from the U.S. Treasury Department to engage in any transactions alleged in the complaint’s affidavit,” the Justice Department stated. “She also never registered with or applied for approval from the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls to engage in brokering activities with respect to U.S. or foreign defense articles.”
The Justice Department added that records, which the federal government obtained after executing a search warrant, showed that Mafi and an Iranian intelligence officer contacted one another 62 times between December 2022 and June 2025.
