Washington Accuses Two Individuals of Supplying Weapons to Iran That Killed 3 Americans

U.S. prosecutors on Monday accused two men of illegally exporting sensitive technology to Iran, which was subsequently used in a drone strike carried out by Iran-backed militants in Jordan in January, resulting in the deaths of three American servicemen and injuring 47 others.

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Federal prosecutors in Boston charged Mohammad Abedini, co-founder of an Iran-based company, and Mehdi Sadeghi, an employee at Analog Devices, a Massachusetts-based semiconductor manufacturing company, with conspiracy to violate U.S. export laws.

Prosecutors also charged Abedini, also known as Mohammad Abedini Najafi Abadi, with providing material support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which led to the deaths of the three American servicemen. The U.S. classifies the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization.

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Abedini, a Swiss citizen of Iranian origin, was arrested in Milan, Italy, at the request of the U.S. government, which will seek his extradition. Mehdi Sadeghi, a U.S. citizen born in Iran and residing in Natick, Massachusetts, was also arrested.

“We often cite hypothetical risks when discussing the dangers of American technologies falling into the wrong hands,” said Joshua Levy, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts.

The January 28 drone attack on an American base in Jordan, near the Syrian border, marked the first fatal strike against U.S. forces since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict in October 2023. The White House later said that the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group comprising Iran-backed militant factions, facilitated the attack.

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In a press conference in Boston, Levy stated that the FBI successfully traced the sophisticated navigation equipment used in the drone back to Abedini’s Iranian company, which manufactured the navigation system. He added that Abedini used a Swiss-based company as a front to purchase U.S. technologies, including accelerometers and gyroscopes, from the company where Sadeghi worked, which were then sent to Iran.

During a brief court hearing, Sadeghi was ordered to remain in custody pending a subsequent hearing, as the prosecutor cited a flight risk. His court-appointed lawyer did not respond to requests for comment. Abedini’s attorney could not be identified.

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Court filings did not explicitly name the company employing Sadeghi, but Analog Devices confirmed in a statement that he had worked for them. The company said it was cooperating with law enforcement authorities and was “committed to preventing unauthorized access to and misuse of its products and technologies.”

Western countries, particularly the United States, are tightening measures to prevent military technologies from reaching Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. They also impose stringent sanctions on the Iranian government for failing to uphold its nuclear commitments and for supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine.

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