An Iranian national and U.S. green card holder was arrested for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to smuggle illegal American electronics to Iran.
The smuggling scheme was allegedly a direct violation of American sanctions, designed to protect national security and prevent other countries with contentious histories of obtaining confidential information.
Federal authorities arrested 66-year-old Bahram Mohammad Ostovari at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday, July 10.
Ostovari, who reportedly has residency in Santa Monica and Tehran, now faces a four-count federal indictment accusing him of exporting modern electronics used in railway and telecommunications systems to Iran without any legal authorization.
According to the Department of Justice, Ostovari founded and led an Iran-based engineering firm that supplied a large amount of signaling and communication equipment to the Iranian government, including equipment for its state-run railway projects.
Between 2018 and 2025, he and his associates allegedly acquired advanced computer processors and other specialized electronics from American suppliers and illegally smuggled them to Iran via “front companies” or middlemen based in the United Arab Emirates.
Prosecutors also claim that Ostovari went to great lengths to conceal the true destination of these electronics, instructing his partners to deceive suppliers and American officials by allegedly falsely claiming that the companies within the UAE were the ultimate customers.
In reality, the electronics were reportedly always destined for Iran.
Even after becoming a legal American resident in 2020, Ostovari allegedly continued the smuggling scheme, fully aware that his actions violated American law.
Emails detailed in the federal indictment show him openly discussing America’s sanctions and instructing co-conspirators to mislead or lie to export officers.
Under guidelines listed by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, it is illegal to export or supply U.S.-origin goods to Iran without explicit authorization from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Neither Ostovari nor his companies ever obtained such authorization.
If convicted, Ostovari may face up to a 20-year sentence on each of the four counts against him, as well as for his illegal electronic exportation scheme.
Ostavari was not the only potentially violent Iranian arrested in America within the past week.
Customs and Border Protection Officials announced that they arrested and deported a violent Iranian national on July 8.
According to the CBP, the unnamed man had a long criminal history that included domestic violence, grand theft, drug charges, and obstruction. He was also captured in California, but this time by CBP’s Special Response Team and a Los Angeles task force, before he was ultimately deported out of America, as previously reported by DX.
In an X post, the CBP described the unnamed man as a “violent criminal Iranian illegal alien” and shared a photo of him in handcuffs, adding that he had “just bought himself a one-way ticket out of our country.”