U.S. Charges Two Men Tied to Iran-Backed Drone Attack on American Forces in Jordan

Latest Developments

Defendants Allegedly Aided Iran: The U.S. Department of Justice announced on December 16 that it had charged Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian national, with providing material support to Iran that resulted in the deaths of three U.S. servicemembers in Jordan in a drone attack in January 2024. The department also charged Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, an Iranian-American dual citizen from Massachusetts, for conspiring with Abedini to send “sophisticated electronic components from the United States to Iran in violation of U.S. export control and sanctions laws.”

Iranian Drone Used in Jordan Attack: According to the Justice Department, the drone deployed in the January 2024 attack in Jordan by Tehran-backed militias was a Shahed unmanned aerial vehicle produced by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. The navigation system used in the drone was the Sepehr Navigation System, which was manufactured by an Iran-based company that Abedini owns, the Justice Department said.

Defendants Face Severe Penalties: If convicted, both Abedini and Sadeghi could face penalties of “up to 20 years in prison, three years supervised release, and a fine of up to $1 million” for violating the International Emergency Economics Powers Act, the Justice Department said. Abedini could also receive a “penalty of up to life in prison, lifetime supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000” for materially supporting the IRGC. U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said that the “arrests demonstrate that the Justice Department will hold accountable those who enable the Iranian regime to continue to target and kill Americans and undermine the national security of the United States.”

FDD Expert Response

“Cracking down on Iran’s financing and facilitation networks inside the United States will need to be a high priority for the incoming administration. But in the end, we need to impose costs directly on Tehran for the murder of Americans — that’s the justice our Gold Star Families deserve.” — Richard Goldberg, Senior Advisor

“Iran’s continued defiance of Western export controls and other trade regulations governing the export of dual-use or military technology has lethal consequences. Tehran’s wide net of illicit procurers is designed to obscure the regime’s longstanding efforts to use Western industry and commerce to boost its missile, drone, military, and nuclear programs. Vigilance against these networks is the name of the game, which requires both law enforcement and national security officials to be aligned with each other against these networks.” — Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran Program Senior Director and Senior Fellow

“Tehran’s network of illicit procurement in the West is vast and should be targeted at both the macro and micro levels. At the macro level, efforts should focus on cutting off the regime’s financial resources and strengthening the legal framework to combat such activities. At the micro level, dedicated task forces spread across Western democracies should focus on identifying, monitoring, and disrupting these networks.” — Saeed Ghasseminejad, Senior Iran and Financial Economics Advisor