Federal authorities on Saturday arrested an Iranian woman at Los Angeles International Airport on charges of selling weapons on behalf of the Islamic republic.
Officials said agents took Shamim Mafi, 44, into custody at the airport on weapons trafficking charges after she brokered the sale of Iranian-made drones, bombs, bomb fuses and large caches of ammunition to Sudan.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Ms. Mafi lived in Woodland Hills and had been a lawful permanent resident in the U.S. since 2016.
Court documents said Ms. Mafi secured a weapons deal just last year to the embattled African nation that included the sale of $70 million for Mohajer-6 armed drones from Iran’s Defense Ministry.
Sudan has been embroiled in a civil war since 2023 between the internationally recognized government and rival paramilitary forces.
Prosecutors said Ms. Mafi was also involved in a contract that sold 55,000 bomb fuses to the Sudanese Defense Ministry.
Ms. Mafi said Tehran had not recruited her to carry out arms trafficking, according to court filings, but prosecutors noted that the Iranian regime took control of her family-owned properties in 2020.
The filings said Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security ordered her to buy the properties back via a U.S.-based business that the regime helped fund.
The documents said she had a direct line to Tehran’s intelligence agency from late 2022 until June 2025.
If convicted, Ms. Mafi faces up to 20 years behind bars. She is scheduled to appear Monday in federal court.
