US authorities have arrested an Iranian woman at Los Angeles airport for allegedly trafficking arms to Sudan on behalf of Iran, prosecutors said.
Shamim Mafi, 44, who holds an American green card, was arrested on Saturday. First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said on X that Mafi is accused of “brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan.”
Court documents allege the sales were to Sudan’s defence ministry and included a €60 million ($70m; £52m) drone contract. She is accused of breaching US sanctions against Iran, which bar US persons from dealing in Iranian goods or services without authorisation.
Mafi has not yet commented on the allegations. She is expected to appear in court later on Monday. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison.
An FBI criminal complaint filed in court, a copy of which was obtained by the BBC, says Mafi coordinated a Sudanese delegation’s travel to Iran, received over €6m in payments, and issued payment receipts for the drone deal. She also submitted “a letter of intent” to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to broker the sale of 55,000 bomb fuses to Sudan’s defence ministry.
According to Essayli, Mafi is “an Iranian national who became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2016.”
Court documents describe her “repeated use of informal exchange entities across multiple transactions” as a “deliberate effort… to evade US sanctions.” She was reportedly ready to board a flight from California to Turkey when she was arrested.
Essayli’s post included images of a woman presumed to be Mafi surrounded by security agents at an airport, a drone on tarmac, and bundles of cash.
Sudan has been engulfed in civil war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for the past three years. The conflict has created what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with tens of thousands killed and millions displaced. Foreign powers have been accused of arming both sides.
Amnesty International previously found evidence of weapons made in Serbia, Russia, China, Turkey and Yemen being used in Sudan. The UAE has denied evidence that it provides military support to the RSF. Iran has also been accused of supporting Sudan’s army with weapons, which Sudan has denied.
The Sudanese army has increasingly deployed sophisticated Turkish drones, although Iranian weapons are believed to have played a critical role in its 2024 offensive against the RSF.
Justin Lynch, head of Conflict Insights Group, said the allegations against Mafi highlight the “murky world” of arms brokering — an “unregulated space where corruption and thievery reign.”
“If you’re fighting a war as a non-Western country, you can’t go to a supermarket and buy 55,000 bomb fuses,” he told the BBC. “If these allegations are proved true, this indictment would be a great indication of that murky world and would show that Sudan was desperate to acquire weapons from any source.”
Sudan’s relationship with Iran has fluctuated. Close ties developed in the 1990s after Islamists rose to power in Khartoum. In the mid-2000s, Sudan relied on Gulf Arab monarchies like Saudi Arabia and the UAE to prop up its economy, leading to a rupture with Tehran amid Gulf-Iran tensions. But Khartoum restored ties with Iran after civil war broke out in 2023, seeking to bolster weapons supplies.
Since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, Sudan’s army has proceeded cautiously — condemning Iranian attacks on Gulf states but not severing ties with Tehran. Its balancing act was further complicated by the recent US designation of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, claiming it had been trained and supported by Iran’s IRGC.
Lynch said Sudan’s conflict is a logistical battle where the armed forces and RSF are competing “sometimes with the same arms dealers — to procure the same weapons.”
