The parents of the late Sgt. Kennedy Sanders, one of three soldiers killed January 28 during a drone attack in northeastern Jordan, are encouraged justice is being done.
“It’s justice for all Americans,' said Shawn Sanders, father of Sgt. Sanders in a television interview.
Mother Oneida Oliver-Sanders said the family is confident in the investigation the FBI is conducting.
“The FBI has been in communication with us since the beginning to let us know they are perusing charges for anyone involved in the case,” she said. “They had to get involved because it is considered an act of terrorism. They (FBI) have been very invested in the ongoing investigation.
“The two people arrested are only involved in a small part of the manufacturing of the drone. They manufactured the navigational system inside the drone. For the FBI to be going to that level of investigation is very encouraging to me they will get to the bottom of who actually dropped the bomb on the soldiers.” Two men were arrested on charges they exported sensitive technology to Iran used in the drone attack which killed Sanders, Sgt. William Jerome Rivers of Carrollton and Sgt. Breonna Moffett of Savannah.
Forty-seven other service members were also injured in the attack on the northeastern Jordan outpost called Tower 22, according the United States Justice Department.
The criminal case in federal court in Massachusetts charges the men, identified as Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi and Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, with export control violations.
The pair were arrested after FBI specialists analyzed the drone tracing 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.
Prosecutors say Sadeghi works at a Massachusetts-based semiconductor company. Abedininajafabadi was arrested in Italy where he awaits extradition to Massachusetts by the Justice Department.
“To the people who were injured by this attack, to the loved ones and family members of the people who lost their lives, as the son of a combat veteran I humbly hope that today’s charges bring some measure of justice and accountability,” said U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy, the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, at a news conference.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the arrests demonstrate “that the Justice Department will hold accountable those who enable the Iranian regime to continue to target and kill Americans and undermine the national security of the United States.”
Prosecutors allege that Abedininajafabadi has deep connections to the Iranian government. His Tehran-based company purportedly manufactures navigation systems for the military drone program of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
He allegedly conspired with Sadeghi to circumvent American export control laws. Abedininajafabadi also faces charges of conspiring to provide material support to Iran.
Sadeghi, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested in Massachusetts and remained detained following a court appearance.
If convicted, each man faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million on the conspiracy to violate export laws charge. Abedini further faces up to life in prison, up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 on the charge of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death.
