Iranian Agent Pleads Guilty to Smuggling F-14 Parts

Omid Khalili pleaded guilty in a U.S. District Court to charges of attempting to export US F-14 jet parts to Iran.

Khalili was charged with nine counts, including conspiracy, money laundering, smuggling and violations of US laws banning sensitive exports to Iran.

Omid was actively working with the Iranian government to procure military items, primarily parts for American-made F-14 Tomcat fighter jets which were sold to Iran before Islamist fundamentalists overthrew the secular regime in 1979 and replaced it with the current totalitarian dictatorship.

The Iranians keep getting caught trying to purchase F-14 parts illegally. It is somewhat easy to catch them, because Iran is the only nation which still flies the venerable F-14 Tomcat. The Tomcat was a truly awesome fighter aircraft for it’s time, but that time ended several decades ago. The Iranians do not possess the technology to build replacements for many of the Tomcat’s critical components and their fleet is slowly dwindling as more combat aircraft are cannibalized for parts.