Our Publications
International Enforcement Actions
January 30, 2013
Spanish police have broken up a smuggling ring that was planning to ship nuclear components to Iran. The police operation, dubbed "Operation Alfa," began in March 2012. It resulted in two arrests and the interception of a truck owned by the Spanish company Fluval Spain S.L. and carrying dozens of highly corrosion-resistant Inconel 625 valves. The...
International Enforcement Actions
January 10, 2013
On January 8, 2013, retired British businessman Christopher Tappin was sentenced to 33 months in prison in an El Paso, Texas federal court for attempting to illegally export batteries used in the Hawk air defense missile to Iran via Britain or the Netherlands. In 2006, Tappin offered to sell the missile batteries for $25,000 to undercover U.S....
International Enforcement Actions
December 15, 2012
A U.S. district court in New York indicted Iranian citizen Alireza Moazimi Goudarzi on November 15, 2012, for his alleged role in illegally exporting and attempting to export military and civilian aircraft parts from the United States to Iran. Goudarzi used multiple pseudonyms, such as “Mikel Scofield,” “Mike Brown,” and “Sebastian Wilson,” and a...
Articles and Reports
October 12, 2012
"Facts matter." That's what Vice President Joe Biden said during the portion of last night's debate with Congressman Paul Ryan that related to Iran. Facts especially matter when discussing what the debate's moderator called the biggest national security threat facing the United States. So, how were Vice President Biden and Congressman Ryan on the...
International Enforcement Actions
September 30, 2012
An increasing number of countries are refusing to flag vessels affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), and are revoking flags from IRISL vessels, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. In June, Sierra Leone revoked its flag from the Amin, a vessel owned by the U.N. sanctioned IRISL affiliate Irano-Hind. Since then...
Articles and Reports, Wisconsin Project Investigations
August 2, 2012
Nearly four years after the United States first sanctioned the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and its fleet, the company appears to be struggling to stay afloat. IRISL has been scrambling in recent months, setting up new front companies, dissolving others, swapping personnel, re-naming vessels, and re-flagging ships to...
International Enforcement Actions
August 1, 2012
Four men were arrested by German federal authorities in Hamburg, Oldenburg, and Weimar on August 15, 2012, on suspicion of illegally supplying Iran with nuclear reactor components. The home and company of a businessman in Halle were also searched. The suspects are accused of having supplied specialized valves for a heavy water reactor under...
International Enforcement Actions
July 30, 2012
California resident and Iranian national Davoud Baniameri pleaded guilty on May 31, 2011 in U.S. District Court to attempting to illegally export to Iran 10 connector adapters for the TOW and TOW2 missile systems in 2009. He was sentenced to 51 months’ imprisonment on August 12, 2011. One of Baniameri’s two co-defendants, Andro Telemi, pleaded...
International Enforcement Actions
July 1, 2012
Parviz Khaki, a 43 year old citizen of Iran, and Zongcheng Yi, a resident of China, were indicted on July 12, 2012 for allegedly participating in a conspiracy between October 2008 and January 2011 to export to Iran U.S.-origin items used to construct gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment, without obtaining the required licenses. Khaki and Yi...
International Enforcement Actions
June 21, 2012
Richard Phillips was sentenced to 92 months in prison on June 21, 2012 after pleading guilty to attempting to export carbon fiber from the United States to Iran without obtaining the required license, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). In October 2011, Phillips agreed to export a spool of aerospace-grade...