By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-28 09:56:50 | Updated at 2026-09-28 10:45:57
1 hour ago
Federal agents escort a 2014 China-Iran trade scheme suspect, Reza Dindar, also known as Renda Dindar—who was arrested in 2025 in Panama and brought to the United States to face charges in April 2026—across the tarmac of an airport, in an undated photo. Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice
An Iranian national was sentenced to 18 months in prison for smuggling parts intended for military sonar to Iran through China.
More than a decade ago, Reza Dindar, 44, and his associates concealed the true destination of the sanctioned parts they were selling.
Dindar was sentenced in the U.S. District Court in Seattle on Sept. 25 after pleading guilty to two counts of exporting goods to an embargoed country and two counts of smuggling goods from the United States, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez also imposed a $10,000 fine and three years of supervised release after his prison term.
Dindar was originally indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2014, but was not brought before a federal court until his extradition from Panama more than a decade later.
He was arrested in Panama in July 2025 at the request of U.S. authorities and extradited to the United States in April 2026. He pleaded guilty about six weeks later.
Dindar operated a company called New Port Sourcing Solutions in Xi’an, China, between 2010 and 2014, according to court records cited by the DOJ. The Chinese company concealed that it was purchasing U.S. goods for companies in Iran.
In 2011 and 2012, Dindar and his co-conspirators used the scheme to obtain parts for three military sonar systems from a company in Washington state, according to the plea agreement. They told the U.S. company the equipment would be used by a company in China. The parts were instead intended to be shipped through China to Iran, in violation of U.S. export controls.
The sanctions on Iran prohibited the unauthorized export, re-export, sale, or supply of sensitive U.S. goods, technology, and services to Iran. The restrictions also included transactions involving third countries when the goods are known or reasonably expected to be ultimately supplied or re-exported to Iran.
Martinez noted the 18-month sentence took into consideration Dindar’s significant time in a Panamanian prison.
Federal prosecutors had requested it, saying the 18-month imprisonment was needed to deter similar violations of U.S. export controls. Prosecutors described the controls as important to U.S. national security interests.
