Bloomberg July 10, 2003
U.S. Authorities Raid Companies Over Iran Arms Sales
July 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. authorities raided 18 businesses in 10 states, seeking evidence that the companies have been illegally shipping military supplies to Iran, the Department of Homeland Security said today.
The raids yesterday were part of an investigation stemming from the 1999 discovery of a California company established to supply Iran with parts for fighter jets, missiles, radar systems and other equipment, the department said in a statement.
That company, Multicore Ltd., was found to be a unit of a London parent entity with the same name, the department said. A search of the London company produced the names of more than 50 U.S. supplier companies, it said.
``The lives of American warfighters can be placed at direct risk'' by such sales to Iran, Joseph Schmitz, the Defense Department's inspector general, said in the statement issued in Washington.
The Department of Homeland Security didn't identify the companies involved in the searches, and it said none have yet been charged and no arrests were made. The department said the companies are suspected of violating the Arms Export Control Act, which requires licenses for such sales.
The raids were conducted at company locations in Louisiana, Texas, New Hampshire, Colorado, New York, Florida, Kansas, Wisconsin, Oregon and South Carolina, the department said. Agents also served seven grand jury subpoenas, it said.
`Axis of Evil'
U.S. law bans arms sales to Iran, one of three nations that President George W. Bush said last year were part of an ``axis of evil'' because of their efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Iran has been trying to keep operational a fleet of F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, manufactured by Northrop Grumman Corp., that the country bought from the U.S. in the 1970s before the Islamic revolution of 1979.
The Bush administration has been trying to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons-production facilities, and the F-14s may make a significant difference in Iran's ability to deter any U.S. effort to attack those facilities, said John Pike, a military analyst for Globalsecurity.org, a research organization.
Prime Targets
The facilities, such as a nuclear power station at Bushehr and a uranium-enrichment plant at Natanz, may be protected in ways that would make it difficult to attack them with remote-launched cruise missiles, Pike said.
``These would be the airplanes that we would be most interested in shooting down first,'' in any potential conflict with Iran, he said.
Iran is the only country other than the U.S. that uses F-14s, and it's believed to have about 20 to 25 of the jets still operational out of an original purchase of almost 100, Pike said.
Agents involved in a December 2000 raid at Multicore's storage facility in Bakersfield, California, seized thousands of aircraft and missile components intended for shipment to Iran through Singapore, the department said.
The items included Hawk missile components and parts for F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, it said. U.S. agents documented more than 270 shipments of parts to Multicore in Bakersfield from various U.S. companies, it said.
Two Multicore officers, Saeed Homayouni, a naturalized Canadian from Iran, and Yew Leng Fung, a Malaysian citizen, subsequently pleaded guilty to arms-export violations, the department said.
British authorities searching Multicore facilities in London found thousands of aircraft and missile components, as well as documents from the Iranian government requesting such purchases, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.
They charged Soroosh Homayouni, the brother of Saeed Homayouni, with violating U.K. export laws, it said.
Copyright © 2003, Bloomberg
