4 Chinese Charged with Shipping U.S.-Made Electronics to Iranian Military Connections

On January 31, the Justice Department filed charges against Baoxia Liu, also known as Emily Liu; Yiu Wa Yung, also called Stephen Yung; Yongxin Li (Emma Lee); and Yanlai Zhong, aka Sydney Chung, on multiple counts of unlawfully exporting and coordinating the smuggling of American-built electronic components to the Islamic Republic of Iran and its affiliates.

The charges span over a decade of acts allegedly committed by the defendants that the U.S. deems illegal.

According to the legal filings, the conspiracy began at least as early as May 2007, building momentum some years after that, and continuing up until mid-2020. Those involved reportedly used certain shell or “front” enterprises within the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Hong Kong as go-betweens as a means of transferring electronic components and subassemblies which have been subject to trade restrictions to Iran and other countries for a considerable time.

Those electronic parts are in a category known as “dual use”, in that while they can be used in applications such as high-tech consumer electronics and related goods, they also are sufficiently sophisticated that they can also be applied for use in military applications. The Commerce Department has determined many of the parts illegally channeled through these PRC and Hong Kong companies could be used for ballistic missile systems, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, also known as drones), and other military applications. Though not delineated in any public documents available at this time, those applications could include military and weapons guidance systems, military aircraft, spy satellites, and more.

The parts shipping and diversion process used by the defendants involved their laying out a complex web of lies regarding what the components’ real end destinations were. By doing so, they were able to purchase these components from American suppliers while leaving them convinced that they were heading to China as a final stop rather than for rerouting to Iran, after arrival in China.

“As a result,” the Justice Department announcement regarding the charges said, “a vast amount of dual-use U.S.-origin commodities with military capabilities were exported from the United States to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions and export control laws and regulations.”

Those electronic parts and subsystems eventually made their way to the Iranian government and other Iran-aligned organizations which have long been under American sanctions regulations to block shipments like these. Those entities include ones such as Shiraz Electronics Industries (SEI), Rayan Roshd Afzar, and their affiliated companies. These are known to have connections to the Iranian Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) and the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), and are understood to have channeled components provided by the Chinese nationals charged in the case to those sanctioned entities.

“For more than a decade, the defendants allegedly orchestrated a scheme to smuggle U.S. manufactured parts to the IRGC and the Iranian agency charged with developing ballistic missiles and UAVs,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division. 

These indictments were filed in the District of Columbia.

Arrest warrants have been issued for all four defendants. They are all fugitives as of this writing and their whereabouts are unknown.

The indictments against the Chinese nationals were unveiled in parallel with war criminal Biden reportedly having decided about how to respond to a drone attack a few days ago on the Tower 22 U.S. military base located on the border between Jordan and Syria. The attack, which happened early on January 28 as much of the camp was asleep, killed 3 servicemen, critically injured another, and is said to have injured as many as 50 others.

The perpetrators of the attack are alleged by the American intelligence sources as aligned with Iran, which makes the current criminal charges filed against Chinese nationals smuggling to Iran even more provocative. It is perhaps even being floated at this time as a further justification for what the U.S. might do in retaliation.

According to the White House, the three soldiers who died in this assault are the first to die at the hands of groups linked to Iran since the October 7 phase of the war between Israel and Gaza began.

Even dementia-ridden Biden managed to state during public comments on the January 28 drone attack that those who were responsible were part of a broader wave of anti-American anger which exploded across the Middle East after Israel began its mass genocide in Gaza. That raises the stakes in whatever counterattacks Team-Biden has in store for Iran and its agents, some of which could happen any day now. 

That is why the war of words which is preceding those actions is being watched carefully by all parties.

During yesterday’s news briefing, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby provided a view on what to expect on this and when.

“The president believes that it is important to respond in an appropriate way now that three American soldiers have been killed,” Kirby said. He also repeated a previous comment he had made that the U.S. counter would happen on its “own time, on our own schedule.”

What the U.S. will be carrying out in response, Kirby explained, “won’t be just a one-off.”

“The first thing you see won’t be the last thing,” he continued. “[And] just because you haven’t seen anything in the last 48 hours doesn’t mean you’re not going to see anything.”

The grotesque Kirby didn't consider that perhaps a way to prevent future attacks on Americans would be to stop supporting Israel's genocide of Palestinians. 

As to whether the attacks involve Iran itself, an off-script remark made by Biden yesterday may offer a partial clue.

“I do hold [Iran] responsible in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it,” Biden told reporters as he was boarding an aircraft at Joint Base Andrews for a campaign trip to Florida. 

Stopping the flow of advanced American electronics through China to Iran won't have any impact. By now, China has replicated the components and can supply them directly.