Inside glamorous arms dealer’s secret spy trips — and the booming jet-set lifestyle she masterminded

An Iranian woman accused of running a global weapons pipeline for the Iranian regime had been living the high life in California for a decade — while traveling the world doing illegal arms deals for Tehran.

Shamim Mafi, 44, is accused of orchestrating a sanctions-busting arms operation from her humble Woodland Hills town house in Los Angeles County, brokering drones, bombs and massive weapons deals at the behest of Iran’s regime.

Federal investigators say Mafi maintained deep, long-standing ties to Iran’s intelligence and political elite.

Her arrest follows a series of visa cancellations of family members connected to the regime who had been living lavish lives in California, which has the biggest expatriate Iranian community in the world.

ICE agents arrested Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, 47, the niece of slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, in Tujunga, north of Los Angeles, revoking her green card.

Her daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny, 25, was also detained in the same sweep.

Meanwhile, Seyed Eissa Hashemi, 43, the son of a senior Iranian official ”Screaming Mary” was taken into custody with his wife and son after his legal status was stripped.

Iranian academic and media commentator Yousof Azizi was also detained by immigration authorities over alleged links to a Basij-affiliated organization tied to the regime’s security apparatus.

Mafi, who held a US green card and moved to California in 2016, allegedly made about 60 communications with an Iranian intelligence officer between 2022 and 2025.

She even told agents she was ”more useful” to Iran’s intelligence services abroad than in the US, a remark officials say reflects her role in facilitating weapons deals across multiple countries.

Mafi, who was once married to a Iranian spy in the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence, remained in close contact with another operative who allegedly helped guide her activities and even backed a US-based business venture to send medical supplies to African countries via Oman.

Mafi was able to use her intelligence connections to re-acquire a property she inherited from her father in 2020 that had been seized by the regime, investigators say.

Her regime connections also allegedly meant she was able to excuse her son from military service.

The same officer than advised her to establish a business in the US to help Iranian-Americans repossess properties that had been seized by the regime in exchange for receiving 60% of the property’s value.

In 2024, she was appointed to a role in the presidential campaign of Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a powerful Tehran insider and former mayor, showing her alleged influence within Iran’s ruling circle.

Authorities say that insider status helped her broker a sweeping series of illicit arms deals, including a €60 million ($70.5 million) contract to supply Iranian-made Mohajer-6 armed drones to Sudan, which has been fighting a bloody civil war since 2023.

The package included drones, guided bombs, control systems and training, with payments funneled through foreign exchanges and cash transfers designed to dodge US sanctions.

Investigators say Mafi took elaborate steps to avoid detection, instructing associates to delete messages, avoid discussing deals over the phone and move money in cash.

She allegedly ordered transactions to be split into smaller amounts and routed through informal exchanges in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to evade scrutiny.

In some cases, she warned partners about the “sensitivity” of the deals and told them not to discuss key details openly.

Prosecutors say she operated through an Oman-based front company and used networks across the Middle East to move large sums of cash, including shipments stored in crates packed with US dollars.

In a February 2025 WhatsApp exchange, she sent a video of a crate stuffed with $100 bills, and later claimed to have received $2 million from a Sudan-linked contact.

The drone deal was just one part of a much larger operation.

Mafi is also accused of brokering deals involving hundreds of aerial bombs, tens of thousands of bomb fuses linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and massive shipments of small arms.

In one proposal, she offered to supply 70,000 AK-47 rifles, 1,000 rocket launchers, 500,000 rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition.

Another deal involved up to 240 million rounds worth more than $100 million.

Investigators say she frequently traveled between Los Angeles and hubs including Iran, Turkey and Oman to meet contacts tied to the deals.

Federal agents arrested her at Los Angeles International Airport as she prepared to leave the country for Istanbul, Turkey, where she frequently travelled.

Mafi had been interviewed by both the FBI and Customs and Border Patrol, but was never found with incriminating evidence of her alleged arms dealing.

She is charged with conspiracy to violate US sanctions laws, in what prosecutors say exposes a sophisticated foreign weapons network operating out of a quiet LA suburb with direct links to Iran’s intelligence and political machine.

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