Man caught buying F-14s for Iran

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2005Apr13.html

Iranian Pleads Guilty In Arms Export Sting

By Eric Rich
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 14, 2005; Page A14


Federal agents operating undercover in Maryland snared an Iranian citizen
who sought to buy and export fighter planes and other restricted equipment
for use by the Iranian military, authorities said yesterday.

Abbas Tavakolian, 58, of Tehran admitted in federal court in Baltimore
yesterday that he attempted to acquire components for a rapid-fire aircraft
gunnery system and other equipment. Prosecutors said negotiations for the
sales began in January 2004, when a second defendant, now a fugitive,
contacted a Maryland business that was secretly operated by U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement agents.

According to Tavakolian's plea agreement, those negotiations culminated in a
Dec. 10 meeting in the South Pacific. There, the agreement says, Tavakolian
delivered $100,000 in cash in exchange for the gunnery system components and
other items. He then directed that they be marked as agricultural equipment
and delivered to Tehran, it says. They were later intercepted.

Tavakolian was arrested the next day after he met with the agents and
"sought to acquire several complete F-14 fighter aircraft for future
shipment to Iran," the agreement says.

A federal indictment returned in Baltimore later charged him and the second
defendant, Hossein Vaezi, with arms export violations and other crimes.
Exporting certain items designated as militarily sensitive without a license
is illegal, and it is the practice of the U.S. government to deny licenses
when the exports are destined for Iran.

Tavakolian pleaded guilty to money laundering and attempting to illegally
export arms. Under the terms of the agreement, both sides will ask that he
be sentenced to 46 to 57 months in prison.

Joseph Evans, one of Tavakolian's attorneys, identified Vaezi as
Tavakolian's son-in-law. He described Tavakolian as "something of a middle
man" in the arms transaction.

"There's no suggestion that he's involved in the planning and the high-level
logistics involved in this," Evans said. "He went to inspect the items, and
he carried messages, and he was ensnared."

Tavakolian met with undercover agents in Europe in June to inspect a sample
of the gunnery system components, prosecutors say. He then allegedly wired a
series of down payments for what was to be a $380,000 transaction.

Neither the indictment nor the plea agreement makes clear what connection,
if any, either man has to the Iranian government. The agreement said the
men's conversations with undercover agents "were geared to the acquisition
of military use technology from the United States for use by the Iranian
military."

Attempts to reach representatives of the Iranian government yesterday were
not successful. A message left at Iran's United Nations mission in New York
was not returned.

Prosecutors said the gunnery system component sought by Tavakolian is used
to feed ammunition into a six-barrel gun on an F-4 or F-14 fighter plane.
The defendants sought 100 of the "inner drums" that serve that purpose,
prosecutors said.

A defense expert at the American Enterprise Institute, Tom Donnelly, said
the gunnery system is an "incredibly lethal" version of the classic Gatling
gun that "just spews out an incredible amount of rounds."

Donnelly said the Iranian government maintains an old fleet of F-14 fighter
planes that it received from the United States before the shah fell during
the revolution in 1979. "If they're looking for spare parts for their
aircraft, that might be part of the explanation" for the transaction
involving Tavakolian, he said.

U.S. authorities have brought a series of recent cases involving export of
arms and technology to Iran.

In January, prosecutors in Connecticut charged an Iranian-born businessman
with illegally smuggling equipment to support his native country's ballistic
missile program. In February, a British national was indicted in Washington
on charges that he illegally tried to export an experimental single-engine
plane from the United States to Iran.

And in April, a Pennsylvania corporation was ordered to pay civil and
criminal penalties for exporting miniature photo labs to Iran without the
required licenses.

"In the post-9/11 world, keeping sensitive U.S. weapons technology from
falling into the wrong hands has never been more important," said Cynthia
O'Connell, head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore.