Iranian Gets 2 1/2 Years for Illegal Exports

A 27-year-old Iranian immigrant convicted of shipping U.S. military radio parts to Iran was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison Monday by a federal judge who told him he was getting a break because of his age and despite the judge’s belief that he committed perjury on the witness stand.

U.S. District Judge Steven V. Wilson could have sentenced Hassan Kangarloo of Encino to up to 13 years in prison for his role in an illegal scheme to export banned equipment to Iran. The judge said the sentence was a “difficult” decision because of Kangarloo’s denials of involvement in illegal export activities.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Jeffrey Modisett, who prosecuted the case, argued that Kangarloo was motivated primarily by greed in a conspiracy to illegally export millions of dollars worth of military-related equipment to Iran from 1981 through 1986 for use in the war against Iraq.

In a number of recorded telephone conversations with an under cover U.S. customs agent and a government informant starting in 1983, Kangarloo spoke of a series of major arms deals with Iran involving spare parts for F-4 and F-5 fighter jets and extra parts for M-60 battle tanks, once sold to Iran by the United States and now in general disrepair.