Iranian citizen sentenced in US for violating Iran sanctions

A Canadian-Iranian dual citizen, Ali Reza Parsa, was sentenced in the United States to three years in prison for violating sanctions against Iran, the US Justice Department said.

In addition to the 36-month prison term, he was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment.

Ali Reza Parsa pleaded guilty in January in US District Court in New York and was sentenced on Friday, the department said in a news release.

Between approximately 2009 and 2015, he conspired to obtain high-tech electronic components from American companies for transshipment to Iran and other countries for clients of PARSA’s procurement company in Iran, Tavan Payesh Mad, in violation of US. economic sanctions. To accomplish this, PARSA used his Canadian company, Metal PM, to place orders with US suppliers and typically had the parts shipped to him in Canada or to a freight forwarder located in the United Arab Emirates, and then transshipped from these locations to Iran or to the location of his Iranian company’s client. 

"Over the course of six years, Parsa repeatedly violated export control laws and aided Iranian entities in procuring high-tech electronic components that have both commercial and military uses," Reuters cited Assistant Attorney General Carlin as saying.