A California woman has been arrested on charges that she was helping Iran traffic arms.
“Last night, Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for trafficking arms on behalf of the government of Iran,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayliposted on X.
“She is charged with a violation of 50 U.S.C. § 1705 for brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan,” he posted.
“If convicted, she faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Mafi is an Iranian national who became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2016,” he said.
Last night, Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for trafficking arms on behalf of the government of Iran. She is charged with a violation of 50 U.S.C. § 1705 for brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of…pic.twitter.com/l39Gf1WVed
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli)April 19, 2026
A criminal complaint from March 12 said that Mafi and an unnamed co-conspirator ran an Oman-based company called Atlas International Business, which allegedly took over $7 million in 2025 to ship weapons, according toNBC News.
Court documents said Mafi and her co-conspirator brokered the sale of 55,000 bomb fuses to the Sudanese government, according to the court documents.
“In connection with the transaction, Mafi submitted a letter of intent to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (‘IRGC’) to purchase the bomb fuses for Sudan,” the complaint said.
Mafi emigrated from Iran to Istanbul in 2013 and then to the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, where after trips to Iran, Turkey, and Oman, she worked for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security to sell weapons for Iran, according to theLos Angeles Times.
Source: VidNews » Feed
