On April 19, 2026, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Shamim Mafi, a 44-year-old Iranian national, at Los Angeles International Airport and charged her with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. They accused Mafi, a legal U.S. resident since October 2016 and living in Woodland Hills, California, of “functioning as a proxy for Iranian intelligence in Los Angeles” and brokering millions of dollars in sales of weapons to the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Sudanese Armed Forces through a company registered in Oman. Mafi’s arrest raises further concerns over activity coordinated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on U.S. soil and the threat from inaction by U.S. law enforcement.
Mafi’s arrest comes a month after the United States listed Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood wing as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and Foreign Terrorist Organization.
According to local law enforcement sources, Mafi’s arrest is not just the tip of the iceberg within one of the largest Iranian diaspora communities in the world, but also a direct consequence of law enforcement failures. Local law enforcement has consistently raised concerns over Iran-linked operatives through the Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center and Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center, but federal authorities often do not make these concerns a top priority.
Yet Mafi was known to both local and federal authorities, and her quiet arrest illustrates that federal officers had flagged her and were prepared. Media outlets noted her statements to immigration and federal agents, claiming that “her work was focused on arranging shipments of medical aid to African countries through the Gulf,” but this now appears to have been part of her cover.
Mafi’s arrest comes a month after the United States listed Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood wing as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and Foreign Terrorist Organization, as well as the Trump administration’s clampdown on Iran’s activity worldwide.
There are three peculiar facts in Mafi’s case. First, her apparent focus on Sudan since 2022. Second, her claim to U.S. officials that her work focused on delivering humanitarian aid to Sudan. Yemeni-Americans collaborating with Houthis in Port Sudan have made this same claim. Third, Mafi “owns and operate[ed] an Oman-based company, Atlas International Business LLC, [also] known as ‘Atlas Global Holding’ and ‘Atlas Tech LLC,’” according to charges filed. This again follows a modus operandi of Iranian elements in Europe procuring weapons components detailed in United Nations reports. The mention of Iranian Mohajer-6 drones by the Justice Department also confirmed reports on the flow of drones from Iran to Sudan’s military.
The statement by the Justice Department included a claim that Mafi “facilitated a contract worth more than $70 million for the sale of the Iranian-made Mohajer-6 drone from Iran’s defense ministry to Sudan’s military” under command of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. This particular drone has played a major role in Burhan’s war against the Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, and has been “supplied to Russia for use in Ukraine.”
Pro-Iran regime operatives engage criminal activity like extortion, money laundering through businesses in commercial districts in Los Angeles, and political activity.
The relationship between Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated government in Port Sudan under Burhan strengthened in February 2025 when “Iran formally announced its support…and signed a joint consultation agreement.” Mafi allegedly was paid $7 million to “coordinat[e] the Sudanese delegation’s travel to Iran” in 2025, using her Oman-based company to broker sales of other components such as “bomb fuses” for Sudan’s military.
A source in Los Angeles who asked to remain anonymous dismissed the portrayal of Shamim Mafi as a “glam businesswoman.” She kept a low profile in Los Angeles, amid the Iranian diaspora that in recent years has witnessed increasing harassment from pro-Iran operatives during anti-regime protests. In his assessment, the flow of Iranian operatives into Los Angeles has remained steady, with individuals engaging in activities from money laundering to surveillance and harassment of anti-regime protesters.
While Mafi’s case remains unique, pro-Iran regime operatives engage in criminal activity like extortion, money laundering through businesses in commercial districts in Los Angeles, and political activity in Arizona and California. Fundraising in the Muslim community in Southern California also remains vital to pro-regime operatives. Here is where law enforcement sources criticize the slow reaction by federal authorities following reports by the Joint Regional Intelligence Center or Intelligence Assessment Center. Local law enforcement highlighted the low number of arrests of known pro-Iran operatives in Southern California, but such individuals may curtail their activities knowing the Trump administration appears far more hawkish and willing to go after flagged individuals on U.S. soil.
