An engineer enters a not guilty plea in a US prosecution involving a lethal drone attack related to Iran

The United States charged a former engineer at a semiconductor maker on Friday with unlawfully obtaining technology for an Iranian company that manufactured a crucial part of a drone used in a January attack in Jordan by terrorists supported by Iran that killed three American service members. The former engineer entered a not guilty plea.

After his detention on December 16, Mahdi Sadeghi, who was dismissed by Analog Devices (ADI.O), participated in a plot to violate U.S. export control and sanctions laws. He entered a not guilty plea to the allegations during a hearing in federal court in Boston.

Almost two weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice filed charges against Mohammad Abedini, the CEO of an Iranian navigation systems firm and dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, who was detained in Italy, he entered the plea.

Prosecutors said that Abedini’s business, San’at Danesh Rahpooyan Aflak Co, which produced the navigation technology utilized in its military drone program, had Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as its main client.

The equipment was utilized, according to the prosecution, in an unmanned drone strike that killed three Georgia Army Reserve troops and injured 47 others when it targeted Tower 22, a U.S. base in Jordan, close to the Syrian border.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of hardline terrorist organizations supported by Iran, is behind the attack, according to the White House.

Iranian media said Saturday that Iran’s foreign ministry said the detention of Sadeghi and Abedini, an Iranian national, were against international law, notwithstanding Iran’s denial of involvement in the assault.

Prosecutors stated that Sadeghi, a Natick, Massachusetts resident, went to Iran in 2016 to look for government funding for a fitness wearables business he co-founded.
The prosecution alleged that Sadeghi started assisting Abedini, also known as Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, in obtaining U.S.-origin electronic components through an associated Iranian firm he founded.

In 2019, after accepting a position at Analog Devices in Massachusetts, Sadeghi helped Abedini’s Iranian company’s Swiss front company sign a contract with Analog Devices and helped Abedini acquire U.S. technology, according to the prosecution.

Prosecutors added that among the electrical parts Abedini took were those that were part of the drone’s navigation system.
Sadeghi’s arrest has resulted in his detention. On January 2, U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Cabell scheduled a hearing to consider granting his release, following a defense attorney’s report of progress in discussions with prosecutors over reasonable bail terms.