Our Publications
This page contains summaries of the world's effort to enforce international sanctions against Iran by preventing it from buying weapons and the means to make them. The summaries cover prosecutions, interdictions of illicit cargo, and other enforcement actions.
International Enforcement Actions
October 6, 2020
Two recent cases pursued by the U.S. Department of Justice demonstrate how Iranian companies employ an effective combination of American brokers, Middle Eastern front companies and freight forwarders, and bank accounts worldwide to obtain goods from the United States. In one plot, a U.S. company shipped military surplus to an Iranian customer by...
International Enforcement Actions
September 30, 2020
On August 19, U.S. authorities unsealed a complaint charging Ali Chawla, Asim Mujtaba Naqvi, and Muzzamil Husnain Zaidi with violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
International Enforcement Actions
July 30, 2020
A pair of exporters employed front organizations, falsified documents, and shipped goods through third parties to support the petroleum industry in Iran in violation of U.S. economic sanctions.
International Enforcement Actions
April 6, 2020
An Iranian engineer alleged by the United States to be supporting Iran's military may soon be extradited from France to the United States. Charges against Rohollahnejad in U.S. federal court relate to his alleged involvement in an attempt to procure U.S.-origin items with potential military applications for Iran.
International Enforcement Actions
November 15, 2019
The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment last week charging Iranian nationals Ali Reza Shokri, Behzad Pourghannad, and Farzin Faridmanesh with orchestrating the shipment of carbon fiber from the United States to Iran. However, the three Iranians represent just half of a continent-spanning scheme first revealed seven years ago, when a...
International Enforcement Actions
October 31, 2019
The United States recently exposed a scheme by two individuals to procure export-controlled U.S. and Canadian equipment with nuclear applications on behalf of an end user in Iran. The timing of the conspiracy highlights Iran's continued efforts to illicitly obtain Western technology despite the implementation of the JCPOA in January 2016.
Iranian Citizens Indicted for Illicit Procurement and Transshipment of Controlled Technology to Iran
International Enforcement Actions
October 7, 2019
On June 6, 2017, Iranian citizen Alireza Jalali was arrested at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport upon his arrival from Malaysia. Ten days later, Australian authorities made a related arrest of another Iranian citizen, Negar Ghodskani, based on a U.S. extradition request.
International Enforcement Actions
April 15, 2019
On March 21, 2019, 57-year-old Australian national David Russell Levick was sentenced to 24 months in prison after pleading guilty to procuring and attempting to procure U.S.-origin aircraft parts for transshipment to Iran without a license.
International Enforcement Actions
December 4, 2018
A federal indictment unsealed last month provides the latest illustration of the methods used by Iranian procurement agents to illicitly procure U.S.-origin goods for export to Iran. This case details how Iranian citizen Arash Sepehri conspired with individuals and companies operating in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran to send...
International Enforcement Actions
October 31, 2018
A recently unsealed indictment provides detail on Iran’s use of deceptive practices to procure export controlled items with military applications from the United States and elsewhere. The indictment details an elaborate, multi-year conspiracy directed by an Iranian-born Canadian to procure such items for an Iranian firm.