44-year-old Iranian woman Shamim Mafi was arrested at Los Angeles Airport in America. He is accused of brokering an arms deal, including drones and bombs, between Iran and Sudan. According to the report of news agency AP, arms and ammunition were smuggled through a company run by Shamim Mafi and that company received a payment of more than 7 million dollars in 2025. The Iranian woman will be charged with brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses and millions of rounds of ammunition between Iran and the Sudanese armed forces, the first US Attorney Bill Essel said in a post on Sunday. He also shared a picture of the woman in this post.
Photos of the arrest surfaced
One of the photos shared by the SEC showed a man wearing an FBI jacket placing a woman in the back seat of a sedan outside the Los Angeles Airport (LAX) terminal, and another photo showed a large amount of cash. However, no further information has been given in this regard. The SEC further said, “Mafi is an Iranian citizen who became a legal permanent resident of the United States in 2016.”
How long can the punishment be?
If found guilty, Shamim Mafi could face a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. Shamim Mafi is accused of helping Iran in smuggling arms to Sudan. According to an AP report, Mafi and an unknown conspirator ran a company called Atlas International Business in Oman, which smuggled weapons.
Court documents reveal that the two brokered the sale of 55,000 bomb fuses to Sudan’s Defense Ministry. According to a New York Post report, contracts for Iranian-made Mohajer-6 armed drones worth more than $70 million were also part of the sale. Mafi was in direct contact with Iranian intelligence agencies between December 2022 and June 2025. According to reports, the Iranian woman will be presented in the US District Court in Los Angeles on Monday.
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