WASHINGTON (JTA) — An Iranian businessman was charged in a U.S. court with trying to ship helicopter engines and military-grade surveillance cameras to Iran.
Hossein Ali Khoshnevisrad was arrested Saturday in San Francisco after arriving on a flight from Europe, the Washington Post reported.
The newspaper said government officials identified the defendant and his firm, Ariasa, as key figures in Iran’s network of businesses and front companies seeking Western technology, and that Khoshnevisrad was using Malaysian and European companies as middlemen in the scheme to circumvent the U.S. prohibition on technology exports to Iran.
At least some of the more than $4 million worth of military parts that Khoshnevisrad bought from U.S. businesses were intended for a Iranian company that the State Department has linked to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missiles program, the Post reported.
Khoshnevisrad is being held without bail.
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