Reputed Iran Colonel Ordered to Stand Trial in Missile Conspiracy

A man reputed to be a colonel in the Iranian army was ordered Tuesday to stand trial in federal court on charges that he conspired with five others to illegally buy more than 1,100 U.S. anti-tank missiles for Iran’s war against Iraq.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, the owner of a Venice electronics firm and two of his employees pleaded guilty to conspiring to export military parts to Iran.

In the first case, Amir Hosseni, 38, who claims that his real name is Hosseni Monshizadeh-Azar, is expected to be sent to Orlando, Fla., for trial after U.S. Magistrate James J. Penne ruled here that there is probable cause to hold him for trial.

Hosseni--who has said nothing in two court appearances about his alleged ties to the Tehran government--was one of six people arrested earlier this month by federal authorities in Southern California, Virginia and Florida. Among those arrested was a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, Wayne G. Gillespie, 46, who was assigned to the Army’s missile command at the Pentagon.

Richard Witkowsky, an undercover FBI agent who helped expose the alleged scheme, testified at a hearing Tuesday that Hosseni, an Iranian citizen, came to the United States from his homeland last month for the express purpose of buying weapons for Iran.

“We were told he (Hosseni) had high influence (in Iran) and . . . he was chosen for the missile transaction (by the Tehran government),” the agent testified.

Witkowsky, who posed as an illegal supplier of weapons, testified that Hosseni told him that he was aware that the export of weapons to Iran is illegal under U.S. law. Hosseni, through an interpreter, also told the agent, however, that he “didn’t want to be involved in anything illegal.”

But Hosseni subsequently attended a meeting at a hotel in Marina del Rey last July 15, where the illegal nature of the alleged scheme was clear to everyone in attendance, Witkowsky testified.

The plan was for Hosseni to arrange for the missiles to be shipped to Iran, the agent said. Hosseni, Witkowsky added, also was to arrange for an Iranian fighter escort for the cargo plane carrying the weapons. Hosseni was arrested by federal agents in Anaheim on July 31.

Attorneys for Hosseni have maintained that he is innocent, pointing to the conversation their client had with Witkowsky in which the agent was told that Hosseni wanted no part of the alleged scheme.

Friends of the defendant have maintained that Hosseni came to the United States to sell some condominiums he owned in this country.

The weapons--including the Sidewinder, Harpoon, Sparrow AIM-7F, Sparrow AIM-7M, Phoenix and TOW anti-tank missiles--were never obtained by the group, authorities said.

Another defendant in the case, Fahrin Sanai, 52, of Calabasas, is scheduled to appear before Penne on Aug. 23. Sanai’s husband, Fadel N. Fadel, 54, also a defendant, is in federal custody in Orlando, where the trials are scheduled to take place, authorities said.

Three Plead Guilty

In the second case, Steven J. Sanett, 33, of Hidden Hills, owner of Aero Electronics; F. Linda Shambrum, 39, of Van Nuys, and Steve Edward Argubright, 31, of La Crescenta, pleaded guilty to illegally exporting electronic tubes used in a ground-based air defense radar system. U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler set sentencing for Sept. 23.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Jeffrey Modisett said a U.S. Customs Service investigation showed that Sanett purchased a shipment of the tubes for the Hawk missile system from Hughes Aircraft Corp. for $60,750 and then, knowing that the shipment was destined for Iran, sold them to a Swiss corporation for $99,000.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police intercepted the shipment before it could be sent on to Europe and then to Iran, he added.

The investigation later uncovered an additional $300,000 worth of sales of electronics tubes and military radios by Sanett to Iran, Modisett said.

The probe was part of the Custom Service’s “Operation Exodus” program, designed to cut the illegal flow of military and high-technology equipment out of the United States.