Jordan drone strike: FBI arrests 2 men for attack that killed 3 Georgia soldiers

BOSTON - Two men, including a dual Iranian American citizen, have been charged with conspiring to export sensitive technology to Iran that was used in a drone attack in Jordan that killed three Georgia soldiers early this year and injured dozens of other service members, the Justice Department announced.

The pair were arrested after FBI specialists who analyzed the drone traced its navigation system to an Iranian company operated by one of the defendants, who relied on parts and technology funneled into the country by his alleged co-conspirator, prosecutors said.

"We often cite hypothetical risk when we talk about the dangers of American technology getting into dangerous hands," U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy, the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, said at a news conference announcing the charges. "Unfortunately, in this situation, we are not speculating."

The defendants were identified as Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, who prosecutors say works at a Massachusetts-based semiconductor company, and Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, who was arrested Monday in Italy as the Justice Department seeks his extradition to Massachusetts.

Prosecutors allege that Abedininajafabadi, who was also called Adedini in court documents, has deep connections to the Iranian government. They say his Tehran-based company manufactures navigation systems for the military drone program of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and that he conspired with Sadeghi to circumvent American export control laws, including through the creation of a front company in Switzerland, and procure sensitive technology into Iran.

Both men are charged with export control violations, and Abedini separately faces charges of conspiring to provide material support to Iran.

From left to right: Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, Kennedy Ladon Sanders, William Jerome Rivers (Credit: Chief of Army Reserve)

Three Georgia soldiers — Sgt. William Jerome Rivers of Carrollton, Sgt. Breonna Moffett of Savannah and Sgt. Kennedy Sanders of Waycross — were killed in the Jan. 28 drone attack on a U.S. outpost in northeastern Jordan called Tower 22. Rivers, Sanders and Moffett were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, Fort Moore and were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve. 

The one-way attack drone may have been mistaken for a U.S. drone that was expected to return to the logistics base about the same time and was not shot down. Instead, it crashed into living quarters, killing the three soldiers and injuring more than 40.

Funeral for Sgt. William Rivers killed in drone strike

Sgt. William Rivers was honored for the last time during a service in Carollton attended by dignitaries such as Gov. Brian Kemp, members of the military, and the public, in addition to friends and family. The sergeant was among three people killed in a drone strike in Jordan.

Tower 22 held about 350 U.S. military personnel at the time. It is strategically located between Jordan and Syria, only 10 kilometers from the Iraqi border, and in the months just after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and Israel’s blistering response in Gaza, Iranian-backed militias intensified their attacks on U.S. military locations in the region.

Following the attack, the U.S. launched a huge counterstrike against 85 sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Iranian-backed militia and bolstered Tower 22’s defenses.