A 44-year-old Iranian businesswoman has been arrested at Los Angeles International Airport.
Shamim Mafi is accused of brokering weapons — including drones, bombs, and ammunition — to Sudan on behalf of the Iranian regime.
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli provided more details:
Last night, Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for trafficking arms on behalf of the government of Iran. She is charged with a violation of 50 U.S.C. § 1705 for brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of… pic.twitter.com/l39Gf1WVed
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) April 19, 2026
Last night, Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for trafficking arms on behalf of the government of Iran. She is charged with a violation of 50 U.S.C. § 1705 for brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan.
If convicted, she faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Mafi is an Iranian national who became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2016.
She is expected to make her initial appearance on Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in downtown L.A. She is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
Born in Iran, Mafi has been a U.S. green card holder since 2016.
She led a glamorous lifestyle, traveling around the world and sharing pictures like this one on social media:
🚨SHOCKING ARREST AT LAX — Iranian “Glam Girl” With U.S. Green Card BUSTED Arming Terror!
44-year-old Shamim Mafi — U.S. green card holder since 2016, living large in Woodland Hills, California — was just arrested at Los Angeles International Airport.
Federal prosecutors charge… pic.twitter.com/nUb077FeGt
— David J Harris Jr (@DavidJHarrisJr) April 19, 2026
SHOCKING ARREST AT LAX — Iranian “Glam Girl” With U.S. Green Card BUSTED Arming Terror!
44-year-old Shamim Mafi — U.S. green card holder since 2016, living large in Woodland Hills, California — was just arrested at Los Angeles International Airport.
Federal prosecutors charge her with running illegal arms deals for the Iranian regime through her Oman-registered company, Atlas International Business.
She allegedly brokered the sale of Iranian Mohajer-6 armed drones, 55,000 bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition to Sudan’s Ministry of Defense — one deal alone worth over $70 MILLION!ADVERTISEMENTCourt records reveal direct phone contacts with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) from 2022 to 2025.
While American families fight inflation, this woman was jet-setting, posting luxury Mercedes pics, and helping the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism ship killing machines to a war zone.
This is EXACTLY why we can’t keep handing out green cards and letting regime-linked operatives live the American dream while they fund global jihad.
Hats off to federal agents and prosecutors for taking her down!
Unfortunately for her, that life of luxury is now over!
Mafi was arrested right before she was about to board a flight out of the U.S. to Turkey.
Now, she’s facing up to two decades behind bars.
The New York Post has more:
Mafi, who left Iran in 2013 and became a permanent resident of the US in 2016 under the Obama administration, allegedly used an Oman-registered company, Atlas International Business, to broker weapons deals as recently as 2025, according to court records.
Among the sales was a contract for more than $70 million for Iranian-made Mohajer-6 armed drones from Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.
The drones, along with 55,000 bomb fuses, were transferred in deals with the Sudanese Ministry of Defense, which has been fighting in a bloody civil war since 2023.
Iran has been repeatedly accused of violating a United Nations arms embargo amid the Sudanese civil war, with its drones spotted in use by the government forces.
The civil war has claimed between 61,000 to hundreds of thousands of lives as it enters its fourth year, with the UN’s fact-finding mission identifying the recent mass deaths in Darfur as having the “hallmarks of genocide.”
The conflict has also displaced nearly nine million people, making it one of the worst displacement crises on the planet.
Phone records indicate that Mafi had direct contact with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) between December 2022 and June 2025.
Prosecutors say Mafi had no legal requisites to oversee such dangerous sales.
Mafi and her company were also accused of purposefully going through channels in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to conduct the sales so as to skirt US detection.
Mafi’s social media accounts show her living the lap of luxury in California and showing off her business trips in Turkey.
Mafi told investigators that she has never been tasked by the MOIS to conduct any activities for Tehran in the US.
A probe into Mafi’s past showed that Tehran had seized properties that she inherited from her father in 2020, with MOIS then directing her to open a business in the US to buy the properties back from the Iranian government, according to the court records.
ADVERTISEMENTMOIS had offered to buy for the start-up costs, officials noted.
Mafi had allegedly said that she is “more useful” to MOIS in Iran than in the United States.
The businesswoman was scheduled to fly to Istanbul on Saturday when she was met by law enforcement officers who took her into custody.
Fox News provided further coverage here:
JUST IN: Federal authorities have arrested an Iranian woman at Los Angeles International Airport, alleging she brokered deals to sell Iranian-made drones, bombs, bomb fuses, assault weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition to Sudan, according to a newly unsealed criminal… pic.twitter.com/ViWhJioekN
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 19, 2026
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!