The United States Department of Justice announced that on Friday (September 25th), an Iranian man was sentenced to 18 months in prison in the federal district court in Seattle for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran by illegally shipping goods to Iran through China, including U.S. military sonar components.
According to the Department of Justice, Reza Dindar, a 44-year-old Iranian citizen (also known as Renda Dindar), was indicted by a grand jury in August 2014. At the request of the U.S., Panamanian authorities arrested Dindar in July 2025. In April 2026, he was extradited to the U.S. and pleaded guilty six weeks later. He admitted to two counts of exporting goods to “embargoed countries” and two counts of smuggling goods from the U.S.
During the sentencing hearing, Federal District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez in Seattle stated that the criminal conduct occurred over a decade ago, and Dindar had already spent a considerable amount of time in a Panamanian prison. In addition to the 18-month imprisonment, the judge also fined Dindar $10,000 and mandated three years of supervised release after serving his prison term.
As per the plea agreement, between 2010 and 2014, Dindar operated a company called “New Port Sourcing Solutions” in Xi’an, China. The company concealed the fact that it was procuring goods from U.S. companies for Iranian entities and falsely claimed that the goods were destined for China. In 2011 and 2012, Dindar and his accomplice fraudulently purchased three sets of military sonar system components from a company in the Western District of Washington, falsely stating that it was for a Chinese company when their actual plan was to ship these components to Iran through China.
The smuggling activities involved in this case violated the sanctions against Iran as specified in the U.S. President’s executive orders. The relevant executive orders prohibit the direct or indirect export, re-export, sale, or provision of any goods, technology, or services from the U.S. to Iran or the Iranian government without authorization. The orders also prohibit the export or provision of goods, technology, or services to third-country nationals with the knowledge that they will be supplied, transshipped, or re-exported to Iran.