June 17, 2016
Federal authorities have arrested an Iranian man not a dual national—in Colorado on charges he smuggled goods to Iran, including for the Iranian military.
Police knew he was flying from Iran to the United States for a family event and simply watched his arrival and reunion with relatives at the Denver airport last Thursday. They arrested him two days later.
In a 39-count federal indictment unsealed Monday, prosecutors charge that Mansour Mogh-taderi-Zadeh smuggled aircraft parts and other supplies for use in the aviation industry from the United States to Iran from 2005 through 2007, defying US sanctions.
Federal prosecutors filed the indictment in 2010, but it was sealed so that no one knew about. Moghtaderi-Zadeh recently applied for a visa to travel to the United States in order to attend a family member’s graduation in Denver. That activated the plan to arrest him.
The indictment says he procured goods from the United States on behalf of customers “including military end-users in Iran.” The indictment accuses him of smuggling aviation course indicators, aerospace metal sheets and rods, camouflage paint, sealant, resin and chemicals, and other items made in the US. The indictment said he and his companies created fictitious shipping documents for some of the items.
