Executive Gets Prison Term for Exports to Iran : Courts: Computer consulting firm manager shipped restricted equipment and misled customs officials about it. His employer faces sentencing next month.

The manager of a Newport Beach computer consulting firm was sentenced Tuesday to one year in prison for shipping restricted high-tech equipment to Iran.

Mohammad (Don) Danesh, 56, a Mission Viejo resident and a U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty in March to illegally exporting a portable oscilloscope and other sensitive electronic equipment three years ago and submitting false statements to U.S. Customs officials about the exports.

Oscilloscopes have civilian and military applications, including the development of missile guidance systems and the processing of data from nuclear weapons tests. The U.S. Commerce Department has banned their export to Iran, which is believed to be working on nuclear projects, said Brooks Ohlson, special agent in charge of the department’s office of export enforcement in Newport Beach.

U.S. District Judge Harry L. Hupp in Los Angeles decided not to impose a fine because the court found that Danesh would be financially unable to pay it.

Danesh’s employer, Reza (Ray) Panjtan Amiri, also pleaded guilty in March. His sentencing was rescheduled for Sept. 14. Amiri’s attorney said his client was detained by Iranian authorities earlier this month during a trip to Tehran.

“The Iranian authorities would not give back his passport for no stated reason,” said Mark E. Beck, Amiri’s attorney in Los Angeles. “We have every expectation he and the Iranian authorities will be able to sort it all out, and he would return by then.”

Amiri, 43, owns Ray Amiri Computer Consultants, which recently closed its Newport Beach operations after the Commerce Department issued a temporary denial order prohibiting Amiri, Danesh and the company from any export activity.

In July, Judge Hupp indicated to Amiri--an Iranian national who is a permanent U.S. resident--that if he retrieved some of the restricted equipment from Iranian authorities it could be a mitigating factor in deciding his sentence. Amiri was able to recover the oscilloscope in early August, Assistant U.S. Atty. Nick Hanna said Tuesday.

Despite that, Assistant U.S. Atty. Patricia Beaman said she will seek a stiff sentence for Amiri.

“In our view, Amiri was the more culpable of the two defendants, in part because he was the owner of the company and he oversaw all its day-to-day operations,” she said Tuesday.