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US designates four firms, five men as violators of Iran sanctions

WASHINGTON, April 17 (KUNA) -- The US Department of Justice (DoJ) on Friday charged four companies and five men of "facilitating the illegal export of high-tech microelectronics, uninterruptible power supplies and other commodities to Iran." These entities and individuals from four different countries face a 24-count indictment on charges of in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the DoJ said in a statement.
"The nine defendants charged in the indictment allegedly circumvented US sanctions and illegally exported controlled microelectronics to Iran," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin.
Violations of the IEEPA "not only can undercut the impact of US sanctions, but can also serve to undermine US foreign policy and adversely affect national security," Carlin said, adding: "I want to thank all those in law enforcement whose tireless efforts led to these charges." The designation "imposes a license requirement before any commodities can be exported from the United States to these persons or companies and establishes a presumption that no such license will be granted," the DoJ statement added.
The Houston-based Smart Power Systems Inc. (SPS); Houston-based Bahram Mechanic, 69, and Tooraj Faridi, 46; and Los Angeles-based Khosrow Afghahi, 71, are all said to be "members of an Iranian procurement network operating in the United States," according to the statement.
Arthur Shyu, and the Hosoda Taiwan Limited Corporation in Taiwan; Matin Sadeghi, 54, and Golsad Istanbul Trading Ltd. in Turkey; and the Faratel Corporation, co-owned by Mechanic and Afghahi in Iran, were also indicted.
SPS is Faratel's sister company in Houston, the DoJ noted.
"The individual defendants each face up to 20 years in federal prison, while the corporate defendants face fines of up to USD one million for each of the IEEPA counts, upon conviction," it added. Meanwhile, the Department of Commerce also added the defendants - all foreign nationals - to its Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List. (end) ys.gb