Iranians in prisoner swap indicted in exported technology

All seven of the Iranians who were granted clemency by President Obama in a prisoner swap last weekend had been indicted or convicted of exporting technology, industrial equipment or military equipment to Iran in violation of the U.S. trade embargo.

Six of the seven men hold dual citizenship in the U.S., and some of them plan to stay in America. In addition to the president’s six pardons and one commutation, the federal government dismissed similar charges against 14 other Iranians living outside the U.S., deciding that extradition was unlikely.

In return for the Iranians’ freedom, the administration gained the release of Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, Marine veteran Amir Hekmati and American Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, who has elected to stay in Iran.

The six who received presidential pardons are:

• Nader Modanlo, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Potomac, Maryland, who was sentenced to eight years in prison on his 2013 conviction of conspiracy to provide illegal satellite services to Iran, laundering money and obstruction of bankruptcy proceedings. Federal prosecutors said Modanlo’s actions helped to enable Iran to launch a satellite equipped with a camera in October 2005.

Modanlo said in court he was an expert in the space-based telecommunications industry, and that he managed space and science programs for private companies, the Defense Department and NASA. A jury convicted Modanlo on evidence that he brokered satellite deal between Iran and Russia and was paid $10 million.

• Ali Saboonchi, of Parkville, Maryland, convicted in 2014 of exporting industrial products to Iran though companies in China and the United Arab Emirates.

Authorities said Saboonchi conspired with others to export industrial parts to Iran, including hydraulic valves and pumps that can be used in the oil, gas, energy, aerospace and defense industries.

• Bahram Mechanic, a dual citizen who lives in Houston. He was indicted last year on charges of illegally exporting millions of dollars in technology to Iran.

Born and raised in Iran, Mechanic is the co-owner of Iran-based Faratel Corporation and Houston-based Smart Power Systems. The government said he shipped $24 million worth of sensitive microelectronic used in missiles to Iran through Taiwan and Turkey.

Faratel makes power supplies, battery backups and surge protectors, mostly for computers, and sells equipment to the Iranian Ministry of Defense, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the Iranian Centrifuge Technology Company.

• Tooray Faridi, who is Mechanic’s nephew and vice president of Smart Power Systems in Houston. The government said he assisted Mechanic in the illegal transfer of U.S. technology to Iran.

Like his uncle, Faridi plans to remain living in the U.S.

• Khosrow Afghahi, an alleged conspirator with Mechanic and Faridi. He is a co-owner of Faratel and Smart Power Systems in Houston, and was accused of helping Mechanic illegally provide technology to Iran.

His lawyer described him as a 72-year-old businessman who had never been in trouble.

• Nima Golestaneh, an Iranian national who pleaded guilty to hacking the computer system of Arrow Tech, a Vermont-based aerodynamics company and U.S. defense contractor, to steal software.

Golestaneh, 30, was arrested in Turkey in 2013 and extradited to the U.S. last year. He was the only Iranian released Saturday who doesn’t have dual citizenship.

In addition to those six, Mr. Obama commuted the sentence of Arash Ghahreman, 46, of Staten Island, New York, who was sentenced to more than six years in prison in 2015 for participating in a scheme to purchase marine navigation equipment and radar technology for military defense systems for illegal export to Iran.

Prosecutors said Ghahreman used a front company in Dubai to illegally acquire U.S. technology systems.

• This article is based in part on wire-service reports.