LOS ANGELES — Shamim Mafi, a 44-year-old Los Angeles resident, was arrested Saturday night at Los Angeles International Airport on suspicion of helping Iran traffic weapons to Sudan. Mafi will face charges that she brokered the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition between Iran and the Sudanese Armed Forces.

Mafi is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Monday. She is accused of violating 50 U.S.C. 1705 and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Mafi is an Iranian national who became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2016. Prior to that, she lived in Istanbul, Turkey, from 2013 to 2016, and she frequently travels to Iran, Turkey, and Oman.

A criminal complaint dated March 12 alleges that Mafi and an unnamed co-conspirator operated a company in Oman called Atlas International Business through which weapons and ammunition were trafficked. The complaint states that Atlas International Business received over $7 million in payments in 2025.

According to the complaint, Mafi and the co-conspirator brokered the sale of 55,000 bomb fuses to the Sudanese Ministry of Defense, and Mafi submitted a letter of intent to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to purchase the bomb fuses for Sudan. Court documents state that she facilitated the sale of Iranian-manufactured drones by the Iranian government to Sudan's Ministry of Defense in a contract valued at more than €60 million, and that she earned €6 million in payment after coordinating a Sudanese delegation's travel to Iran.

In an interview with federal officials, Mafi said that her first husband was an officer for Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted a photo showing an individual in an FBI jacket escorting a woman into a sedan outside a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.

Sudan has been fighting a civil war since 2023. The conflict, now in its fourth year, has created a humanitarian crisis with dwindling food supplies and millions of people fleeing their homes.