Iranian national sentenced in San Diego

Arash Ghahreman, a naturalized United States citizen and former Iranian national, yesterday (August 27) was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for his role in a scheme to purchase marine navigation and military electronic equipment for illegal export to Iran.

He had been convicted in January by a San Diego federal jury of violations of export and money-laundering laws. U.S. district judge Dana Sabraw said that Ghahreman's conduct was aimed at thwarting the Iran trade sanctions and therefore he was a national security threat to the U.S.

Ghahreman, a resident of Staten Island, New York, was an agent of an Iranian procurement network that used a front company in the United Arab Emirates to acquire U.S. goods for shipment to Iran.