California woman accused of selling firearms to Iran charged

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. (NBC, KYMA) - A California woman accused of helping Iran sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons overseas has been charged.

44-year-old Shamim Mafi was arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) recently and faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

"A little bit speechless," said Farid Kimiagar, a Woodland Hills resident.

"I got goosebumps, like are you kidding me?" said Jesse Bradley, another Woodland Hills resident.

Door to door, people at a Woodland Hills complex expressed their shock after a woman living there was arrested by the FBI and is accused of trafficking weapons for Iran.

"You never know who's next door. And with everything that's going on, it's just absolutely crazy to me. I don't even know what to think of it," Bradley remarked.

Federal investigators say Mafi was taken into custody at LAX while trying to fly to Turkey.

She's accused of helping Iran sell hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons and ammunition to the nation of Sudan, violating decades-old U.S. sanctions against doing business with Iran.

"So right off the bat, that kind of business is trouble. Couple that with the fact that Ms. Mafi is accused of selling weaponry or brokering the sale of weaponry, that's a whole other problem," said Joseph Moreno, a former federal prosecutor.

In a criminal complaint, federal investigators say Mafi helped Iran sell Sudan more than $70 million worth of armed drones, as well as hundreds of bombs, 70,000 AK-47 rifles, and ten million rounds of ammo.

Investigators say Mafi called and met with an Iranian intelligence officer dozens of times, and used her business in the Middle East to take payments from Sudan for the weapons.

The criminal complaint says Mafi used the encrypted messaging platform WhatsApp to communicate and told others involved in the deals to delete their messages.

"That shows that you have intent, that shows that you know what you're doing is illegal and you're taking steps to hide it. Based on the information that's listed in here, I have to think that the government's got a strong case," Moreno explained.

Court records KNBC has obtained show Mafi was named to a leadership position in an Iranian candidate's 2024 presidential campaign.

The court documents show the candidate is the current speaker of the parliament of Iran since 2020, and former mayor of Tehran from 2005 to 2017.

NBC News reports the current speaker of the parliament is Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, one of Iran's leading conservative figures, who may be the point man in current peace talks with the US.

Former prosecutors say while Mafi's charges aren't connected to the current U.S. military operation in Iran, the action's bringing more attention to the case against her, and putting her neighbors on higher alert.

"Now I'm more conscious about who lives here, what people are doing here right? You see some people, say hi to them, but you don't know what happens behind the doors," Kimiagar expressed.