Four Chinese nationals have been charged with crimes related to the smuggling of US-made electronic components, including some with possible military use, to Iran, the US Justice Department said on Wednesday.
The Chinese nationals are accused of moving US export-controlled items through China and Hong Kong to sanctioned entities affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its defense ministry, the department said in a statement on Wednesday.
The US alleges that between May 2007 and July 2020, the four used front companies in China to funnel electronics, including some that could be utilized in the production of drones, ballistic missile systems, and other military end uses. The alleged scheme resulted in the export of a “vast amount” of dual-use U.S.-origin commodities with military capabilities from the United States to Iran, the Justice Department said.
“For more than a decade, the defendants allegedly orchestrated a scheme to smuggle U.S. manufactured parts to the IRGC and the Iranian agency charged with developing ballistic missiles and UAVs,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
“Such efforts to unlawfully obtain US technology directly threaten our national security, and we will use every tool at our disposal to sever the illicit supply chains that fuel the Iranian regime’s malign activity,” he added. The US has issued arrest warrants for the accused, who all remain fugitives, according to the statement.
“Aggressively combating illicit procurement networks that support Iranian miliary systems like radars and UAVs is essential to U.S. national security,” said Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod of the Department of Commerce. “Today’s indictment, tied to the work of the Disruptive Technology Strike Force, reaffirms that proliferators cannot hide behind front companies in third countries to funnel technology to our adversaries.”
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