An Iranian woman was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday for allegedly facilitating the sale of Iranian-made drones, bombs, bomb fuses, assault weapons, and ammunition to Sudan in violation of US sanctions, according to a newly unsealed criminal complaint.
“Last night, Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills, was detained at Los Angeles International Airport for trafficking arms for the Iranian government, according to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
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She is accused of violating 50 U.S.C. § 1705 by brokering the sale of Iranian-made drones, explosives, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition sold to Sudan. “If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in federal prison. Mafi, an Iranian national, became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2016. She is scheduled to make her first appearance on Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles. “She is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.”
According to a redacted member of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office’s Iran Counterintelligence Squad, Mafi, who was granted permanent U.S. residency in California by former President Barack Obama, worked with others on behalf of Iran and was about to board an LAX flight to Turkey when she was arrested.
The complaint charges Mafi with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and alleges that she arranged a contract for more than $70.6 million for the sale of Iranian-made Mohajer-6 armed drones to Sudan’s Ministry of Defense.
Investigators claim she facilitated the sale of 55,000 bomb fuses to the Sudanese military, as well as other ammunition agreements, including 10 million AK-47 rounds and a potential contract for 240 million rounds. “MAFI is a lawful permanent resident of the United States who lives in Woodland Hills, California, and travels frequently to Iran, Turkey, Oman, and other countries,” the 68-page complaint read. As described below, MAFI carried out her illicit weapons brokering scam from several locations, including the Central District of California.
Mafi was born in Iran, moved to Istanbul, and ultimately ended up in the United States, where she is not a citizen. “She has a shady history and ties to the Iranian government and intelligence. ” According to the complaint, MAFI admitted to speaking with an officer from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS Officer-1) during CBP and FBI questioning. Mafi claimed that she is “more useful to them [i.e., MOIS] in Iran than in the United States,” and records collected pursuant to a search request show about 62 bidirectional interactions between Mafi and MOIS Officer-1’s phone numbers between December 2022 and June 2025.
According to the FBI affidavit, Mafi and her alleged co-conspirators utilized Atlas International Business LLC, an Oman-based firm, to handle the transactions and channeled payments through Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, which investigators believe was done to avoid US sanctions.
According to the filing, Mafi cooperated with Iranian government officials, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and maintained touch with an officer from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
According to federal officials, Mafi never secured the necessary licenses in the United States to broker deals involving Iranian products or defense equipment. According to the complaint, she was set to depart LAX for Istanbul on April 18, and investigators expected to find proof of the alleged plot on her person and at her apartment.
