On the night of April 18, federal agents intercepted Shamim Mafi at Los Angeles International Airport as she attempted to board a flight to Istanbul. The 44-year-old Iranian national and U.S. permanent resident was arrested on charges of trafficking arms on behalf ofthe Iranian government. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli stated that sheis charged with“brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan.” She has pleaded not guilty. Her trial is scheduled for June 23.

In addition to alleged arms trafficking, the case has uncovered a logistics network that has been moving Iranian weapons through Sudan for more than a decade. The pipeline has survived Israeli airstrikes and the Abraham Accords and is now operating at a scale that dwarfs anything previously prosecuted in a U.S. courtroom.

Court records show Mafi brokered a contract worth more than$72.5 millionfor Mohajer-6 armed drones from Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, destined for Sudan’s Ministry of Defense. Beyond the drones and 55,000 bomb fuses, the complaint alleges she arranged the sale of 500 non-guided aerial bombs, 70,000 AK-47s, 250 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 1,000 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and 500,000 rockets.

Mafi allegedly operated through an Oman-registered front company, Atlas International Business LLC, which received more than$7 millionin payments in 2025 alone. The payments were structured to evade detection. Some funds were transferred through informal hawala money-exchange systems operating across the Middle East and Africa, while other amounts moved through banks in Dubai and Turkey. Additional payments were reportedly delivered in crates of $100 bills.

Search-warrant records show nearly62 bidirectionalcontacts between Mafi and an officer from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) between December 2022 and June 2025. During interviews with FBI agents, Mafi acknowledged the contact.

The operational template matches that ofIRGC Unit 190, the clandestine logistics branch of the Quds Force responsible for international arms smuggling. According to theWashington Institutefor Near East Policy, Unit 190’s roughly two dozen personnel use an elaborate system of front companies and shipping firms to conceal the IRGC’s fingerprint and bypass international sanctions. The unit hasfunneled weaponsto Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, the Assad regime, and Palestinian militant organizations in Gaza, using land, sea, and air routes that are continuously adapted to evade detection.

Sudan has been part of this network for more than a decade. The explosions thatrocked Khartoumin October 2012 were linked to weapons supplied by IRGC Unit 190, which allegedly used Port Sudan as a transshipment point for arms moving overland to Gaza. Eight Israeli F-15s reportedly bombed the stockpile that night.

The weapons are being deployed in the Sudan conflict. Iranian-madeMohajer-6 dronesplayed a decisive role in the Sudanese Armed Forces’ March 2024 offensive to retake Old Omdurman and the National Radio and Television Corporation from the Rapid Support Forces. These are the same drone platforms Iran has supplied to Russia for use in Ukraine.

The proxy force receiving this support has been formally designated by the U.S. government. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office ofForeign Assets Control(OFAC) sanctioned the Al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade (BBMB) in September 2025, stating that the group had contributed more than 20,000 fighters using training and weapons provided by the IRGC. OFAC also stated that brigade fighters had been implicated in arbitrary arrests, torture, and summary executions.

The State Department designated the BBMB’s parent organization, the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organizationin March 2026. U.S. Senior Adviser Massad Boulos also confirmed that the IRGC had trained and supported fighters tied to the brigade.

Source: The Gateway Pundit