Two Iranians charged with procuring US drone parts

Two Iranian businessmen have been indicted for allegedly conspiring to procure US parts to build military attack drones, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Hossein Akbari, 63, and Reza Amidi, 62, are charged with money laundering and providing material support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

According to court documents, Akbari is chief executive of a company called Rah Roshd while Amidi is the commercial manager.

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The Justice Department said Akbari and Amidi, who previously worked at Qods Aviation Industries (QAI), an Iranian state-owned aerospace company, are both at large.

"The defendants conspired to obtain US-origin parts needed to manufacture drones for military use in Iran and send those parts to Iran in violation of export control laws," US Attorney John Durham said in a statement.

"The IRGC and QAI have been core players in the Iranian military regime's production of drones, which threaten the lives of civilians, US personnel and our country's allies."

According to the Justice Department, Akbari and Amidi have evaded US sanctions since 2020 to procure US parts for use in Iranian-made drones, including the Mohajer-6.

A Mohajer-6 drone used by the Russian military was shot down by the Ukranian Air Force in September 2022 and found to have parts manufactured by several US-based companies, it said.