An Iranian national and US lawful permanent resident has been arrested on charges of illegally exporting electronics from the United States to Iran, violating US sanctions, the Justice Department said Friday.
Prosecutors said Ostovari is the founder and CEO of a Tehran-based engineering company that supplied signaling and communications systems to the Iranian government, including on projects for the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways.
From at least May 2018 to July 2025, Ostovari and his co-conspirators “obtained and shipped sophisticated computer processors, railway signaling equipment, and other electronics and electronic components to Company A in Iran,” according to the indictment unsealed Friday. “Many of these items were controlled under federal regulations, and their export to Iran without a license was prohibited.”
He is charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and three counts of violating the IEEPA. Prosecutors say Ostovari acted in knowing violation of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR), which, alongside the IEEPA, prohibit the export, sale, or supply — directly or indirectly — of certain US-origin goods to Iran without authorization from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The Justice Department said Ostovari used two front companies in the United Arab Emirates — MH-SYS FZCO and Match Systech FZE — to carry out the scheme. He and others “intentionally concealed from electronics suppliers in the United States and elsewhere that the goods were destined for Iran,” falsely listing the UAE companies as end users.
Prosecutors allege that after becoming a lawful US permanent resident in May 2020, Ostovari continued the exports. “Ostovari knew of the US sanctions against Iran,” the indictment states, “mentioning them in emails to co-conspirators and directing one co-conspirator to provide false information to a federal export control officer.”
Neither Ostovari nor his companies applied for or received a license from OFAC to export the equipment, according to the Justice Department.
If convicted, Ostovari faces up to 20 years in prison for each count. Homeland Security Investigations and the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security are investigating the case.
