The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday, September 27, that Abuzar Rahmati, a former contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), was officially charged in a Washington court for acting and attempting to act as an agent of the Iranian government on U.S. soil without notifying the Attorney General.
According to the indictment, 42-year-old Abuzar Rahmati, a U.S. citizen, had contact with Iranian regime officials and their intelligence agents from December 2017 to June 2024.
The report states that Rahmati accessed sensitive, non-public information through his work as an FAA contractor and provided non-public information about the U.S. solar energy industry to Iran.
According to U.S. judicial officials, Rahmati lied about his background during the hiring process and did not disclose his service in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The U.S. Department of Justice emphasized in its statement that it will use all available tools to identify and prosecute Iranian agents or those from any foreign government attempting to infiltrate U.S. companies or government agencies.
On August 14, the U.S. Department of Justice also charged Jeffrey Chance Nader, a 68-year-old Iranian-American, with illegally exporting U.S.-made aircraft parts to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Matthew Olsen, the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division, said Nader’s arrest reflects America’s commitment to preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring military equipment and added that the U.S. will continue to aggressively investigate, disrupt, and hold accountable the criminal networks supplying sensitive technologies to hostile and repressive governments.
Robert R. Wells, the Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, highlighted Nader’s arrest and stressed that circumventing U.S. export control laws is unacceptable. He added that the FBI, in cooperation with global partners, is committed to identifying and prosecuting individuals and companies that violate export laws.
