Jalal Hajavi, Shipping Heavy Equipment to Iran, Virginia 2023

A Virginia man has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for shipping heavy equipment to Iran in violation of US sanctions.

Jalal Hajavi, 60, of Sterling, Virginia, was convicted by a jury in September 2023, of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR), smuggling, and unlawfully exporting and reexporting goods from the United States to Iran without a license.

Hajavi, through his company JSH Heavy Equipment LLC, located heavy equipment for sale in the United States, such as bobcats and wheel loaders, and sent information about his findings to a co-conspirator in Iran.

Hajavi purchased the items from US sellers and used freight forwarding companies to ship the heavy equipment from the United States to the UAE, where his Iranian co-conspirator diverted the machinery to Iran in circumvention of the US export license requirement.

In addition to evading OFAC licensing requirements, Hajavi concealed his activities with the co-conspirator by causing false information to be entered into the Automated Export System (AES), a US government database containing information about exports from the United States.

Hajavi continued his unlawful conduct despite being informed on at least two occasions that his conduct was prohibited.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division stated, ‘As this case shows, the Justice Department remains committed to enforcing US sanctions and export control laws to deny Iran the commodities that fuel its malign activities abroad and threaten our nation’s security.’

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