UK Citizen Given 18 Months in Prison for Trying to Ship Dual-Use Goods to Iran

A U.K. citizen was sentenced to 18 months in prison Jan. 31 for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran by exporting and attempting to export dual-use goods to Iran without the required license.

Saber Fakih pleaded guilty in January 2022 to working with three other people to export an industrial microwave system and counter-drone system from the U.S. to Iran, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (see 2201280010), according to a DOJ news release. The three co-conspirators said they were procurement agents of Iranian firm Rayan Roshd, which was later sanctioned by the U.S. for procuring goods on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The British man was the "primary liaison between the Iranian purchaser and the U.S.-based seller" of the industrial microwave system, placing a bid on the microwave system and purchasing two counter-drone systems, DOJ said.