A former Iranian military official is accused of infiltrating the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a contractor to steal US national security information about the power and electrical architecture of the FAA’s National Airspace System (NAS), federal prosecutors allege.
Abouzar Rahmati, 42, has been indicted on charges of acting and conspiring to act as an agent of the Iranian government in the United States over a nearly seven-year period from December 2017 to June 2024, according to recently filed court papers.
The naturalized U.S. citizen served as a First Lieutenant in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) between June 2009 and May 2010 before moving to the United States, where he set out to betray the government of his new home by offering to help the Iranian regime.
The betrayal allegedly began in December 2017 when Rahmati traveled to Iran to meet with intelligence operatives and government officials and discussed information about the U.S. solar energy industry.
On returning to the United States, prosecutors claim Rahmati began applying for various jobs that would give him access to sensitive national security information that he could steal and send back to Tehran.
Rahmati eventually landed a job as a contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration, where he was able to access information about the National Airspace Service.
In April 2022, Rahmati allegedly downloaded sensitive non-public documents relating to the FAA and took them to Iran where he handed them over to government officials.
On his return to the United States, Rahmati was tasked by intelligence officials with obtaining more sensitive information about the FAA, U.S. airports, and U.S. air traffic control towers.
“This defendant is charged with infiltrating a U.S. agency with the intent of providing Iran with sensitive information vital to our national security,” commented U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia following Rahmati’s indictment.
“Thanks to the great work of the FBI and the FAA’s investigators, this defendant was stopped in his tracks and a known adversary’s plot was exposed.”
Rahmati concocted a cover story of being an academic who was communicating with his peers in Iran but he was eventually busted by the FAA’s Office of Counterintelligence and Technical Operations who investigated Rahmati alongside the FBI.
Rahmati’s brother is also a co-conspirator in the case after he allegedly agreed to transport sensitive data about the FAA and U.S. airports to Iran on behalf of his sibling.
