US arrests Iranian American woman over alleged arms deals to Sudan
Prosecutors cite drone and ammunition brokering via private company, sanctions enforcement targets intermediaries while wars keep buying
Images
Shamim Mafi, 44, was arrested on Saturday at Los Angeles international airport in California, pictured in 2025. Photograph: Allison Dinner/EPA
theguardian.com
Shamim Mafi, 44, an Iranian national living in the U.S. on a green card, was arrested by the FBI outside of LAX Saturday for allegedly brokering arms deals between Tehran and Sudan (U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California)
independent.co.uk
Shamim Mafi, 44, an Iranian national living in the U.S. on a green card, faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for allegedly brokering arms deals for Iran (U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California)
independent.co.uk
US federal agents arrested Shamim Mafi, a 44-year-old Iranian national and US lawful permanent resident, at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday on allegations that she brokered Iranian weapons sales to African buyers including Sudan. According to The Guardian, prosecutors say Mafi helped arrange deals involving drones, bombs, bomb fuses and millions of rounds of ammunition, and that she faces up to 20 years in prison.
The complaint described by The Guardian and The Independent sketches a logistics business that looks less like a shadowy militia supply line than a service industry: a broker, a front company, travel arrangements, and commission payments. Investigators allege Mafi and an unnamed co-conspirator used a company called Atlas International to facilitate transactions across multiple jurisdictions, including California and Turkey. The Independent reports that prosecutors say she had contact with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security between late 2022 and mid-2025, though she has denied acting on behalf of the agency.
One alleged contract highlights how external suppliers can shape African battlefields without deploying troops. The Guardian says Mafi facilitated the sale of Iranian-manufactured drones to Sudan’s Ministry of Defence in a deal valued at more than €60 million, and that she earned about $6 million after coordinating travel for a Sudanese delegation to Iran. The Independent notes that Iranian officials told Reuters in 2024 that Iranian drones were instrumental in shifting momentum in Sudan’s civil war toward the Sudanese military.
Sudan’s war, which began in 2023, has killed large numbers of civilians and displaced millions. The Independent points to UN findings that recent killings in Darfur have the “hallmarks of genocide,” and recalls that the US government accused the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias of genocide during the Biden administration. In that environment, access to drones and ammunition is not a marginal upgrade; it is often the difference between controlling a city and losing it.
The case also shows the enforcement side of sanctions regimes: the US can reach a broker at an airport, but it cannot easily unwind the downstream effects once weapons have arrived. The Guardian reports that Mafi maintained a residence in Woodland Hills while frequently travelling to Iran, Turkey and Oman—jurisdictions that can sit outside Western export-control compliance cultures. Prosecutors say the alleged deals were structured through companies and travel rather than direct state-to-state shipments, a model that spreads responsibility across paperwork, intermediaries and private logistics.
Mafi is due to appear in US district court in Los Angeles on Monday. By the time the case is argued, the drones and ammunition described in the complaint will have either been delivered or replaced by other channels.
US authorities say the alleged broker was arrested at LAX; Sudan’s war continues to be supplied by whoever can move hardware across borders faster than diplomats can write communiqués.