Two American businessmen have been arrested for conspiring to illegally ship American-made military parts to Iran in violation of a U.S. embargo.

Hassan Saied Keshari, 48, and Traian Bujduveanu, 53, both naturalized U.S. citizens from Iran and Romania respectively, were charged on June 23, 2008, in federal court in Miami.  The men, both owners of aviation companies in the U.S., allegedly shipped parts for the AH-1 attack helicopter, the CH-53 heavy-lift transport helicopter, and the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet to the United Arab Emirates for resale to Iran after receiving emailed orders directly from Iran requesting the equipment.

The sale of military parts to Iran has been a violation of American export law since 1995.

In 2007, federal prosecutors reportedly charged at least a dozen businesspeople in the United States with illegally selling military equipment to Iran.

In an unrelated case, Jilani Humayun, 60, a Pakistani citizen and permanent legal resident of Long Island, New York, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on June 19, 2008, to illegally exporting parts for F-5 and F-14 military fighter jets to Malaysia which authorities allege may have eventually ended up in Iran. 

Keshari and Bujduveanu face a maximum of 5 to 20 years in prison if convicted.