Two Iranian citizens charged in connection to drone strike that killed 3 US soldiers in Jordan
By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN
(CNN) — Two Iranian citizens are facing federal charges in connection to a drone strike that killed three US Army soldiers and injured dozens more in Jordan early this year, the US Justice Department announced Monday.
The men, 42-year-old Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi and 38-year-old Mohammad Abedini, are charged with conspiring to export electronic equipment from the United States to Iran. Sadeghi, who is a dual US-Iranian citizen, lives in Massachusetts and made his initial appearance in court Monday.
Abedini is also charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and was arrested Monday in Italy.
“Today’s arrests demonstrate that the Justice Department will hold accountable those who enable the Iranian regime to continue to target and kill Americans and undermine the national security of the United States,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news release.
CNN has reached out to attorneys for Sadeghi for comment. It was not immediately clear whether Abedini has an attorney.
According to the DOJ news release, the two men worked to evade US sanctions by sending US technology from the Massachusetts-based microelectronics manufacturer that Sadeghi works for to Abedini’s Iranian company that manufactures navigation modules used in the IRGC’s military drone program.
Three US Army soldiers were killed and more than 30 service members were injured in a drone attack on a small US outpost in Jordan in January, US officials told CNN, the first time US troops were killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the beginning of the Gaza war. Iran has denied any involvement in the attack on the outpost, Tower 22.
An FBI analysis of the drone, which was recovered from the site of the attack, found that it used a navigation system made by Abedini’s company, according to the release.
CNN has reported that the enemy drone followed a different, American drone as it approached the US military outpost along the Syrian border, though it was not immediately clear whether the enemy drone intentionally followed the American one or if it was a coincidence.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Haley Britzky, Natasha Bertrand, Oren Liebermann and Jack Forrest contributed to this report.
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