U.S. charges man with seeking to buy missiles for Iran

By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK | Fri Oct 25, 2013 2:05pm EDT

(Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors brought criminal charges on Friday against a man they said tried to acquire surface-to-air missiles that he planned to smuggle into Iran in a threat to U.S. national security.

Reza Olangian, a dual citizen of the United States and Iran, was charged with four counts, including trying to acquire and transfer anti-aircraft missiles, violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and two conspiracy counts.

The defendant was arrested at an airport in Tallinn, Estonia, on October 10, 2012, and extradited to the United States on March 26, 2013, according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in New York, who announced the charges.

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Prosecutors said Olangian, also known as Raymond Avancian, dealt over several months last year with an undercover official working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, who he believed was a weapons and aircraft broker, to arrange for goods to be acquired and illegally sent to the Iranian government.

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