Dual National Held in US Over Suspected Tech Smuggling to Iran’s Military and Nuclear Sites

Federal agents have arrested a Californian technology executive, exposing what prosecutors describe as a years-long conspiracy to funnel sophisticated American equipment to Iran’s military and nuclear apparatus. Jamshid Ghomi, a 63-year-old dual US-Iranian national, was taken into custody at his $35 million Newport Coast mansion on Wednesday, marking one of the most significant sanctions-enforcement actions against an individual for illicit technology transfers to Tehran in recent years.

Ghomi, who ran a Tehran-based firm called Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh, is alleged to have supplied networking, security and encryption gear to the Islamic Republic’s Atomic Energy Organization between 2017 and 2023, and to its Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics from 2014 to 2022. The indictment, seen from Washington, details how he laundered more than $15 million through shell companies and secretly exported over 250 tonnes of equipment, exploiting his firm’s California veneer to bypass strict US export controls. The Federal Bureau of Investigation led the raid, seizing evidence that prosecutors say underscores the long reach of American sanctions.

From Tehran’s vantage, the arrest will likely be dismissed as political grandstanding, yet it lays bare the regime’s persistent struggle to procure cutting-edge technology for its most sensitive programmes. Western sanctions experts in London note that such cases illustrate the cat-and-mouse game between US enforcement agencies and Iranian procurement networks, which have grown adept at using front companies and dual nationals to evade detection. The use of a legitimate US business to funnel goods to Iran’s nuclear establishment highlights the enduring challenges for the global export-control regime.

The prosecution—brought under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—could yield further indictments as investigators trace the supply chain and financial flows. It also sends a stark signal to technology firms and individuals that US authorities remain intent on disrupting Iran’s ability to modernise its military and nuclear infrastructure, even as diplomatic channels between the two nations remain frozen. For Ghomi, who faces decades in prison if convicted, the case is a stark illustration of the risks inherent in sanctions-busting operations that straddle multiple jurisdictions.