November 01-2013
Yet another Iranian-American has been hauled into a US court and charged with trying to smuggle military goods to the Islamic Republic. Only this time, the goods were Russian-made missiles, not American weapons.
Reza Olangian of Los Gatos, California, who also used the name Raymond Avancian, was arrested in Tallinn, Estonia, in October 2012 and extradited to the US in March, prosecutors said. They released a criminal complaint and an indictment charging him with multiple crimes involving Russian-made missiles designed to shoot down aircraft.
Derek Maltz, an officer of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said: “Mr. Olangian’s conspiracy could have put American lives at risk, as well as those of our friends across the globe.”
According to court papers, Olangian first tried to obtain about 100 missiles for the Iranian government in 2007. That effort failed. The documents allege that he began negotiating a new deal for missiles in early 2012, unaware that he was actually dealing with a DEA agent, who posed as a weapons and aircraft broker from Russia.
During recorded meetings, Olangian and the DEA agent spoke about the cost of a handheld, portable infrared-homing missile system that could be fired by a single person, the criminal complaint said.
The United States is especially sensitive to the sale of these missiles because they are ideal for terrorists to use to shoot down a passenger plane as it takes off or lands at an airport.
By August 2012, Olangian was boasting that he had signed a contract for the missiles, the document said. Olangian, who became a naturalized US citizen in January 1999, claimed to have a business office in Tehran, the complaint said.
The complaint, written by DEA Agent Derek Odney, quoted Olangian telling the DEA plant that selling the missile system “would make us both very rich.”
After his arrest, Olangian told investigators that he was trying to acquire aircraft components for an Iran-based company that hoped to provide them to the Iranian Ministry of Defense, Odney wrote.
Olangian told investigators that he wanted to obtain the missiles because he had been introduced to two individuals who claimed they were employees of the Iranian Ministry of Defense, the complaint said.
In other words, it appeared that Olangian was operating on his own initiative and was not employed by the government of the Islamic Republic to smuggle weapons.