Three people indicted in US for smuggling of Iran-bound weapons by sea

A superseding indictment was returned recently charging two Iranian citizens, brothers Shahab Mir’kazei and Yunus Mir’kazei, and one Pakistani citizen, Muhammad Pahlawan, for conspiring to provide and providing material support to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction program resulting in death and conspiring to commit violence against maritime navigation and maritime transport involving weapons of mass destruction resulting in death.

Pahlawan is currently awaiting trial, while the Mir'Kazei brothers remain at large, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed via a statement released on Thursday, August 8.

According to the court documents, the Mir'Kazeis work for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Pahlawan is a Pakistani citizen who allegedly worked for the Mir’kazei brothers as the captain of a smuggling vessel known as a dhow, named Yunus, which is owned by Shahab Mir'Kazei.

Pahlawan allegedly worked with Shahab to prepare the dhow for multiple smuggling voyages, and Shahab paid Pahlawan in Iranian Rials from a bank account in Shahab’s name. Pahlawan allegedly arranged to receive payments from Shahab and Yunus in Iran and distribute the money to his family and others.

On the night of January 11, 2024, US Central Command (CENTCOM) naval forces operating from the expeditionary sea base USS Lewis B. Puller, including US Navy SEALs and members of the US Coast Guard, boarded the dhow off the coast of Somalia. Two Navy SEALs lost their lives during the interdiction.

As alleged, the US boarding team encountered 14 individual mariners on the vessel, including Pahlawan. During a search of the dhow, the US boarding team allegedly located and seized what is believed to be Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry.

Preliminary analysis of the advanced conventional weaponry indicates that it includes critical components for medium-range ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, including a warhead and propulsion and guidance components. The type of weaponry found aboard the dhow is allegedly consistent with the weaponry used by the Houthi rebel forces in recent attacks on merchant ships and US military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

In addition to the charges described above, Pahlawan is charged with providing materially false information to US Coast Guard officers during the boarding of the dhow regarding the vessel’s captain and witness intimidation for threatening one of the crewmembers on the dhow.

If convicted, Pahlawan and the Mir'Kazei brothers all face maximum penalties of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The DOJ clarified that an indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.