Woman charged in US with trafficking arms to Sudan for Iranian government

An Iranian national has been arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for allegedly trafficking arms to Sudan on behalf of Tehran, the US Department of Justice says.

Shamim Mafi, 44, was arrested and “charged with … brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan”, the department said in a post on X on Monday.

US Attorney Bill Essayli wrote in an earlier X post that Mafi lived in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills and “is an Iranian national who became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2016”.

Mafi was arrested on Saturday and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

Essayli’s post was accompanied by images of a woman presumed to be Mafi surrounded by federal agents at the airport, a large drone on a tarmac, a woman’s ID image and bundles of cash.

The United Nations recently warned that Sudan is at risk of slipping into “full-scale famine and collapse” as the war between its army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has entered its fourth year.

A criminal complaint dated March 12 alleged that Mafi and an unnamed coconspirator operated a company in Oman called Atlas International Business, through which weapons and ammunition were trafficked. The company received more than $7m in payments in 2025.

Separately, Mafi and the coconspirator brokered the sale of 55,000 bomb fuses to the Sudanese Ministry of Defence, according to court documents.

“In connection with the transaction, Mafi submitted a letter of intent to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (‘IRGC’) to purchase the bomb fuses for Sudan,” the complaint said.

Mafi is scheduled to appear in US District Court in Los Angeles on Monday. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison.

Denise Brown, head of the United Nations in Sudan, told the AFP news agency on Thursday that Sudan is facing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and weapons from outside sources deserve part of the blame.

The UN has repeatedly called on foreign powers to stop fuelling the war but has not accused specific states.

On one side, the Sudanese army has been backed by Egypt and Saudi Arabia and deployed Turkish- and Iranian-made drones.

However, most of the blame has been pointed at the United Arab Emirates, which denies evidence that it has funnelled arms to the RSF, which has been accused of genocide.