A US judge on Thursday allowed an Iranian-born engineer to be released on bail just days before his trial on charges that he conspired to illegally export technology to Iran with potential military drone applications.
Judge Cites Changed Circumstances
US District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston had previously declined to release Mahdi Sadeghi, a dual US-Iranian citizen, from custody due to flight risk. However, Talwani on Thursday said the situation had changed since Sadeghi, a former Analog Devices employee, was arrested in December 2024. She pointed to the war in Iran, which began in February when the US and Israel launched strikes.
The judge stated that the conflict made the prospect of Sadeghi and his family returning to Iran “less attractive” and that it would be difficult for him to do so. “It is just a different political world,” she said.
Family Ties and Conditions
Talwani noted that Sadeghi’s wife had made clear she wanted their family to remain in the US, where they reside in Natick, Massachusetts. Sadeghi would risk losing that if he fled rather than contest the charges. She ordered him released on Friday on a secured $500,000 bond, subject to strict home detention with a GPS ankle monitor. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
Charges and Allegations
Sadeghi has pleaded not guilty to participating in a scheme to violate US export control and sanctions laws by illegally procuring technology for Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini. Prosecutors say Abedini founded a company that counts Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a client and made a navigation system used in Iran’s Shahed drones.
Prosecutors allege that navigation system was used in a drone that struck a US outpost in Jordan called Tower 22, near the Syrian border, in a January 2024 attack by Iran-backed militants that killed three Army Reserve soldiers and injured 47 others.
Defense Arguments
Sadeghi’s lawyers say no evidence exists that any of the technology he is accused of exporting was found in any drone. The judge in February barred prosecutors from introducing evidence about the Jordan drone attack at his upcoming June 22 trial to avoid “unfair prejudice.”
Sadeghi is slated to face trial alone after Italian officials last year released Abedini, who had been awaiting extradition to the United States, following the detention by Iran of an Italian journalist it also released.
