High-Flying Iranian Woman Charged With Moving Arms Worth Millions For Tehran

New Delhi: A permanent US resident of Iranian origin was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday night on charges of brokering weapons deals on behalf of the Iranian government, according to a report by New York Post. It said the deals allegedly included armed drones, bomb fuses, and ammunition destined for Sudan’s ongoing civil war.

Shamim Mafi, 44, was charged by the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California with conducting arms transactions without legal authorisation. The charges allege she used an Oman-registered front company called Atlas International Business to facilitate the deals as recently as 2025.

Among the transactions prosecutors cited is a contract worth over $70 million for Mohajer-6 armed drones, which are Iranian military-grade unmanned aircraft sourced from the Islamic nation’s Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics. The same network allegedly moved 55,000 bomb fuses to Sudan’s Ministry of Defence, which has been engaged in a civil war since 2023. Prosecutors said she held no legal permission to oversee arms brokering of this kind.

Court filings stated that phone records showed Mafi was in direct contact with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security between December 2022 and June 2025. Mafi left Iran in 2013 and got permanent US residency in 2016. She has denied to investigators that she was ever tasked by Tehran to conduct activities in the US on the regime’s behalf.

Prosecutors alleged that in 2020, Iranian authorities seized properties that Mafi had inherited from her father, after which Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence then told her to open a business in the US ostensibly to buy back those properties from the government. Tehran offered to cover the start-up costs, the prosecutors said.

Mafi allegedly told Iranian intelligence contacts that she considered herself more valuable to them operating outside Iran than within it. The Mohajer-6 drone platform has appeared in multiple active conflict theatres in recent years, including in battles between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The arrest comes as US Vice President JD Vance will again lead a delegation for talks with Iran in Pakistan, news agency AFP reported. Earlier today, US President Donald Trump announced he was sending negotiators to Islamabad for meetings with Tehran about ending the conflict that has raged in the Middle East, with a ceasefire soon set to expire. The president however said Vance, who led the last round of talks with Tehran in Islamabad, would not make the trip, citing security concerns.

But a White House source quickly clarified, saying Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will attend the talks, AFP reported.