A federal jury in Boston convicted Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi on Monday of conspiring to export electronic components to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions, finding him guilty on three of five counts [1]. Sadeghi, a 43-year-old naturalized citizen who worked at Analog Devices, will remain free until sentencing on Oct. 13 [1].

Prosecutors said Sadeghi helped a longtime friend, Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, evade American export controls. Abedini's Tehran-based company makes navigation systems for the drone program of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, according to the government [1]. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Dolan told jurors the illegal exports were "the fruits of this relationship" and that Sadeghi "knew what Abedini was doing because he told him in writing" [1]. Defense lawyer William Fick countered that the scheme "makes no sense," that Sadeghi merely advised a friend on winning business, and that prosecutors showed no gain to his client [1].

What the verdict does not establish is a link to bloodshed. Prosecutors had hoped to introduce evidence tying Abedini's drones to a 2024 attack that killed three U.S. troops at a base in Jordan, but the judge barred it, allowing only general testimony about the company's military applications [1]. At a February hearing, prosecutors conceded they lacked evidence that Sadeghi "knew anything" about the exported technology reaching that drone [1]. Abedini, arrested in Italy and believed to have returned to Iran in a prisoner swap, faces separate terrorism charges over the soldiers' deaths [1].

A sanctions conviction is not a homicide finding. Wartime feeds count on collapsing the two; the court record keeps them apart.

-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco