A former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contractor has pleaded guilty to working as an agent of the Iranian government and intelligence services for more than six years.
Abouzar Rahmati, 42, who previously served in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a First Lieutenant, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to act and acting as an agent of the Iranian government in the US without prior notification to the US Attorney General.
Rahmati, according to documents presented to the Federal court, worked with Iranian intelligence and government officials from December 2017 through June 2024 and used his job with the FAA to obtain information on America's aviation and solar energy sectors for his Iranian handlers.
He downloaded at least 175 gigabytes of files, including files on the National Aerospace System (NAS), such as NAS Airport Surveillance Radar systems, and radio frequency data. He brought the stolen data to Iran in April 2022.
Rahmati faces up to 10 years in prison for acting as an agent of a foreign government, and up to five years in prison for conspiracy.
Several Iranian intelligence operations in the US have been uncovered in recent years. In 2023, then-US special envoy on Iran Rob Malley was placed on leave without pay last year after his security clearance was suspended amid an investigation into his handling of classified material.
It was later reported that the FBI was looking into Malley's handling of classified material.
Malley played a significant role in the Biden administration's efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, from which then-President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.
In 2024, Semafor reported that several aides to Malley had been ensnared in an Iranian influence campaign starting from the days of the Obama Administration.
During the 2024 presidential election, the US government concluded that the Iranian government was behind the hack and leak operation targeting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and also attempted to target the Biden-Harris campaign.