Iranian-Canadian Citizen Sentenced to Prison for Attempting to Violate Sanctions Against Iran

The Southern District of New York's prosecutor's office announced in a statement on Friday, December 15, that Ali Soufi, an Iranian-Canadian citizen who accepted charges of attempting and planning to circumvent sanctions against Iran, has been sentenced to 32 months in prison. According to the statement from the Southern District of New York prosecutor's office, Ali Soufi was attempting to send military equipment to Iran by violating arms sanctions. The statement adds that between 2014 and 2016, Ali Soufi had attempted to illegally purchase military equipment from the United States without the necessary permits and send it directly or indirectly to Iran. Based on the statement from the Southern District of New York prosecutor's office, Ali Soufi was trying to provide advanced military technology on behalf of senior officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including seeking to purchase drones, parts for advanced machine guns, tank parts, and military vehicles from the U.S. This Iranian-Canadian citizen accepted the charge of planning to circumvent sanctions against Iran in the presence of Judge Nelson Roman on September 7, 2017. The 63-year-old Ali Soufi was also sentenced to one year of supervised release in addition to the 32 months in prison. While the news of this Iranian-Canadian citizen's conviction was published on Friday, on Monday, U.S. federal prosecutors charged a Turkish businessman with exporting boat engines and generators made in Wisconsin to the Iranian Navy. Reports indicate that Rashid Tavan, a 40-year-old from Istanbul, was arrested in Romania in June and transferred to the U.S. Mr. Tavan's lawyers have denied the charges against him.