UK Citizen Sentenced in Iran Tech Exports Case

A British man was sentenced to 18 months in prison for attempting to export  an Industrial Microwave System (IMS) and counter-drone system from the United States to Iran, without first obtaining the requisite license from the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Saber Fakih, 48, and his co-conspirators held themselves out as procurement agents of Rayan Roshd, which has since been sanctioned by the U.S. Government for its procurement activities related to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Another co-conspirator, Iranian national Jalal Rohollahnejad, 46, has also been charged with smuggling, wire fraud and related offenses arising from the same scheme. Rohollahnejad previously was added to the Department of Commerce’s, Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List in March 2020, for acting contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests by procuring goods on behalf of a Specially Designated National (SDN).

According to the government’s evidence, in 2017 and 2018, Mr. Fakih and his co-conspirators attempted to export to Iran items that had potential civil and military uses. Potential military uses of the industrial microwave system (IMS) (with some modification) include high-power microwave-based Directed-Energy Weapon systems. The counter-drone system, which has both commercial and military uses, can be used to stop, identify, redirect, land or take total control of a target unmanned aerial vehicle.

Mr. Fakih admitted in his statement of offense that he was the primary liaison between the Iranian purchaser and the U.S.-based seller of the IMS. He placed a bid with the Massachusetts vendor, coordinated an inspection of the machine, and generally corresponded with the vendor on the purchaser's behalf, knowing it was ultimately destined for Iran.

The equivalent of $450,000 was sent from Iran to the UAE, where conspirators converted it from Emirati currency to U.S. dollars, then transferred the money to Canada via three separate wire transfers. In Canad, conspirator Bader Fakih then transferred the money to the U.S. company for the purchase of the IMS.

In addition to the IMS, Saber Fakih and Bader Fakih conspired to purchase two counter-drone systems worth nearly $1 million from a Maryland-based company on behalf of Taghavi.

Saber Fakih was arrested in the United Kingdom pursuant to a U.S. Extradition Request on or about February 10, 2021. On January 25, 2022, he entered a plea of guilty to count two of the indictment in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. In addition to the prison term, Saber Fakih was ordered to serve three years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office, HSI’s Baltimore Field Office, and the Washington Field Office of the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Export Enforcement.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterespionage and Export Control Section.