Ali Reza Parsa, a Canadian-Iranian dual citizen and resident of Canada, was sentenced to three years in federal prison for procuring dual-use electronic components for Iranian companies in violation of U.S. sanctions.  Between 2009 and 2015, Parsa conspired to obtain U.S.-made high-tech electronic components with both commerical and military uses for transshipment to Iran and other countries on behalf of clients of his Iranian procurement company.  Parsa used his Canadian company, Metal PM, to purchase components from U.S. suppliers and then transshipped the goods from Canada or the United Arab Emirates to Iran and other locations, falsifying the identity of the end-users in the transactions.  The goods included cryogenic accelerators, which have applications related to ballistic missile propellants and liquid-fuel rocket engines.

Iran conducted its first launch of the new Simorgh space launch vehicle, a launch that was judged to be partly successful by U.S. intelligence agencies.  According to a U.S. defense official, the event was either an unsuccessful launch or a test of the rocket's third stage that was not intended to send a satellite into orbit.  A State Department spokesman said he could not confirm the launch.  The Simorgh, a large liquid-fueled rocket, has been under surveillance by U.S. satellites at a launch pad at Iran's Semnan satellite launch center.  The rocket is believed to be based on North Korean missile technology and capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.  U.S. Vice Adm. James Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told Congress that the Simorgh eventually could be reconfigured as an intercontinental ballistic missile.

A Belgian chemical distributor, Chemical Partners Europe S.A. (CPE), agreed to pay a $350,000 fine to the Bureau of Industry and Security to settle six charges related to the export of coatings, pigments, and paints to Iran.  Between January 2010 and March 2011, CPE allegedly exported about $244,358 worth of U.S.-origin items with nuclear or marine applications to Iran using falsified export declarations. 

A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. unanimously authorized a settlement between the federal government and the Dutch company Fokker Services B.V. accused of sanctions violations, overturning a district court ruling that had thrown out the deferred-prosecution agreement as too lenient.  Fokker, an aerospace company, had agreed to pay $21 million as part of an 18-month deferred prosectuion agreement to settle charges that it sold aircraft parts to Iranian military customers, as well as to customers in Burma and Sudan, in violation of U.S. law.