The United States on Friday announced it had broken up a sophisticated Iranian operation that tricked dozens of American technology companies into selling sensitive military equipment worth millions of dollars.
The network used fake websites impersonating real American firms, worked through intermediaries in Dubai to receive shipments, and smuggled the technology into Iran in violation of US sanctions. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the scheme targeted advanced equipment including spectrum analyzers and security detection devices meant for Iran's defence sector.
Ali Majd Sepehr, based in Iran, led the network, according to the State Department. The agency did not identify which American technology companies were defrauded or how much money the scheme netted before it was shut down.
The announcement came one day after the State Department offered a $15 million bounty for information that could help disrupt the financial operations of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its branches. The reward signals Washington's determination to choke off funding that Tehran uses to sustain its military apparatus and proxy forces across the Middle East.
On Friday, the White House said President Donald Trump will only sign a deal to end the war with Iran if it meets all his conditions. The statement added uncertainty to ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington, with no clear timeline for when talks might conclude or what either side would accept as a final agreement.
