Los Angeles: Shamim Mafi, a 44-year-old Iranian woman and US green card holder, has been arrested by US federal authorities at Los Angeles International Airport on suspicion of trafficking weapons on behalf of the Iranian government. She is expected to be produced in court on Monday, according to officials cited by local media.

In a post on X, First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said Mafi was arrested “for trafficking arms on behalf of the government of Iran” and is expected to appear in US District Court on Monday afternoon in Los Angeles.

“She is charged with a violation of 50 U.S.C. SS 1705 for brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan,” Essayli said.

“Shamim Mafi is an Iranian national who became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2016,” Essayli added.

The Iranian-origin woman could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

Among the alleged transactions was a contract worth more than USD 70 million for Iranian-made Mohajer-6 armed drones from Iran’s Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics. The drones, along with 55,000 bomb fuses, were transferred in deals with the Sudanese Ministry of Defence, which has been fighting a civil war since 2023, according to reports.

A report in the Los Angeles Times said Mafi was arrested at the LA airport “where she been set to board a flight to Turkey.”

The news outlet also noted that Mafi is the third person from the city’s Iranian diaspora to be “collared by federal authorities in three weeks.”

Mafi first emigrated from Iran to Istanbul in 2013 before moving to Los Angeles, where she lived in Woodland Hills within the Iranian community and frequently travelled between Iran, Turkey and Oman. She received her green card in 2016 and allegedly began working with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, using an Omani shell company to move weapons and cash, federal authorities claim.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, Mafi allegedly used her contacts to resolve a property dispute over her late father’s inheritance and to secure exemption for her son from mandatory military service.

“In July of 2024, as fighting raged in Khartoum, a Sudanese weapons broker WhatsApped Mafi to contract a shipment of Qods Mohajer-6 drones -- the same ones Iran has long supplied Russia in its war in Ukraine, according to the complaint. At least some of the weapons Mafi sold to the military arrived in Sudan from China,” the LA Times report said.

Mafi and her company were also accused of routing deals through Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to avoid US detection, according to the New York Post.

Phone records allegedly show Mafi had direct contact with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) between December 2022 and June 2025, the US media outlet reported.

However, Mafi reportedly told investigators that she has never been tasked by the MOIS to conduct any activities for Tehran in the US, according to the New York Post.