Two men, including a US citizen, charged in attack that killed three US troops in Jordan

Two men, including a U.S.-Iranian citizen, were charged with conspiring to export technology to Iran that was used to perpetrate a attack with a drone on a detachment of U.S. forces in Jordan that killed three soldiers in January 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.

Washington has blamed the attack on the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-backed terrorist militias.

The defendants are Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, an American-Iranian employee of a Massachusetts-based semiconductor company, and Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, who owns a navigation systems factory in Iran and according to the prosecution has deep ties to the Islamic Republic's government.

Abedininajafabadi was arrested in Italy and is expected to be extradited to Massachusetts soon.

Defendants' complex scheme to get technology to terrorists

Prosecutors in the case said the two were arrested after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) analyzed the drone used in the attack and discovered that its navigation system had been manufactured by Abedininajafabadi's company, which relied on parts and technology sent to Iran by Sadeghi.

In addition, the prosecution noted that Abedininajafabadi's company manufactures navigation systems for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's military drone program and conspired with Sadeghi to circumvent U.S. export control laws. To do so, among other things, they set up a shell company in Switzerland.

Both face charges of export control violations. However, Abedininajafabadi is also charged with conspiracy to provide material support to Iran.

US troops who lost their lives in the attack

The troops killed in the attack were Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, Sgt. Breonna Moffett and Sgt. Kennedy Sanders.

Following the attack, the U.S. launched a counteroffensive in Iraq and Syria against more than 80 posts used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Tehran-backed terrorist group.