Iranian extradited to US for alleged illegal military surplus exports

The US Department of Justice said that an Iranian national was extradited to the United States for allegedly exporting sensitive military equipment from the US to Iran.
Merdad Ansari, 38, arrived on 14 March in San Antonio, Texas, from Georgia, to face federal charges “in connection with a scheme to obtain military sensitive parts for Iran in violation of the Iranian Trade Embargo”, officials said, adding that the dual-use parts could be used in such systems as “nuclear weapons, missile guidance and development, secure tactical radio communications, offensive electronic warfare, military electronic countermeasures, and radar warning and surveillance systems”.
The suspect and his co-defendant, Mehrdad Foomanie, also from Iran, were charged in 2012 “with conspiracy to violate the Iranian Transactions Regulations (ITR), conspiracy to launder money, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.” A third defendant, Taiwanese citizen Susan Yip, was sentenced to two years in a federal prison in 2012 after pleading guilty to conspiring to violate the ITR.
The defendants allegedly obtained or attempted to obtain from companies worldwide more than 105,000 parts valued at about $2.6 million involving more than 1,250 transactions from October 2007, to June 2011.
They have allegedly conducted 599 transactions with 63 different US companies, but they allegedly did not notify them that the parts were being shipped to Iran, and also did not have a license to ship the parts to Iran. If found guilty Foomani and Ansari face up to 20 years in federal prison.