An Iranian businesswoman living in the U.S. on a green card has been arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly brokering arms deals for Tehran.
Shamim Mafi, 44, was arrested on Saturday night at Los Angeles International Airport. She has been accused of brokering deals for drones, explosives, and millions of rounds of ammunition, all of which were to be sold to Sudan, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.
“She is charged with a violation of 50 U.S.C. § 1705 for brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan,” First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement.
Mafi became a permanent resident in the U.S. in 2016. She left Iran in 2013 and allegedly used an Oman-registered company to broker the arms deals, according to the New York Post.
One of the contracts Mafi was allegedly brokering involved $70 million for Iranian-made Mojajer-6 armed drones, the Post reports.
Phone records show that Mafi had direct contact with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security between December 2022 and June 2025, according to reports.
Mafi has also been accused of using her company, Atlas International Business, to use channels in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to avoid detection by the U.S.
She has denied having any involvement with Iran’s MOIS and also denied being directed to conduct business on behalf of Tehran, the Post reports.
The drones and approximately 55,000 bomb fuses Mafi was allegedly preparing for sale were meant for the Sudanese Ministry of Defense. Sudan has been in the grip of a civil war since 2023.
In 2024, Iranian military officials speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters that drones and unmanned aerial vehicles manufactured within its borders were instrumental in turning the tide of the civil war in favor of the Sudanese military.
UN fact-finders reported that recent mass killings in Darfur have the “hallmarks of genocide.” The Rapid Support Forces — the group opposing the Sudanese military in the civil war — have also been accused of genocide by the U.S. government.
In the final days of the Joe Biden administration in 2025, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused the RSF of acts of genocide.
“Those same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies,” he wrote at the time. “Based on this information, I have now concluded that members of the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan.”
Mafi is accused of violating the Conspiracy to Violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Her first court appearance is scheduled for Monday afternoon in LA.
If she is convicted, she faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
