U.S. offers $15 million reward for woman, 3 accomplices accused of smuggling drone technology to Iran
The U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $15 million for a woman and three accomplices who have been allegedly smuggling U.S. technology to Iran for nearly 20 years.
Liu Baoxia, also known as Emily Liu, allegedly worked with three associates to use front companies in China to send U.S. electronic components to companies linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the State Department
said in a news release
. The associates were identified as Li Yongxin, also known as Emma Lee; Yung Yiu Wa, also known as Stephen Yung; and Zhong Yanlai, also known as Sydney Chung.
The electronic components could be used in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, ballistic missile systems, and other "military end uses," the State Department said. Thousands of components were sent, the State Department
said in another post
.
Liu and her associates allegedly misrepresented who the electronic components would be sent to, so they were exported to the Chinese front companies under the belief they were being sent to China. Instead, they were exported to Iran-linked companies Shiraz Electronics Industries, Rayan Roshd Afzar, and their affiliates, the State Department said.
Federal charges against the four, including conspiracy, were announced in January 2024. Known locations for Liu and her associates are Tehran, Iran; Shiraz, Iran; Bandar Abbas, Iran; Beijing, China, and Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Federal arrest warrants have been issued for
Liu
and
Chung
, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has added them to its "Most Wanted" list. The U.S. State Department said its Rewards For Justice program was offering a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to their arrest.
The IRGC regularly uses front companies to make and move money, and to procure technology while
evading sanctions and trade controls
, the State Department said. The IRGC and Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, which supervises the development and production of the nation's military weapons, have utilitized U.S. technology to manufacture arms and weapons systems, the State Department said. Those systems are then sold to governments and groups in Iranian-allied countries like Russia, Sudan and
Yemen
.
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Newsweek
37 minutes ago
- Newsweek
China Challenges US Sea Power With Two Aircraft Carriers in West Pacific
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. For the first time ever, two Chinese aircraft carriers operated simultaneously in the western Pacific beyond a strategic island defense line meant to keep China's naval forces in check. Chinese naval activities in relevant waters are "fully consistent with international law and international practices," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said at press conference on Monday. Newsweek has also reached out to the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment by email. Why It Matters The Chinese navy is the world's largest by hull count, with more than 370 vessels, including two aircraft carriers—CNS Liaoning and CNS Shandong—in active service. This growing fleet enables China to expand its military reach and presence in the Pacific Ocean. Under a containment strategy, the United States has established three island chains across the western and central Pacific by using its own territories, as well as those of its allies and partners, in an effort to restrict China's naval access to the broader Pacific during wartime. On Saturday, Japan—a U.S. treaty ally—announced that the Liaoning had become China's first aircraft carrier to be spotted sailing in waters east of the Second Island Chain, which links Japan to New Guinea, north of Australia, via Guam—America's westernmost territory. What To Know A second Chinese naval task group—consisting of the Shandong and four other vessels—was tracked operating in the Philippine Sea on Saturday, approximately 340 miles southeast of Miyako Island in Japan's southwestern waters, the Japanese Defense Ministry announced. The Chinese vessels deployed alongside the aircraft carrier—which has served in China's navy since 2019—included one Type 055 destroyer, two Type 054A frigates, and one Type 901 fast combat support ship, according to hull numbers provided by Japan's military. It remains unclear when and where the Shandong and its task group breached the First Island Chain—formed by Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, west of the Philippine Sea. They may have passed through the Luzon Strait, which lies between Taiwan and the Philippines. The Liaoning, which has been tracked underway since late May, was first spotted operating in the East China Sea before transiting the Miyako Strait—a key waterway in the First Island Chain near the Japanese island of Miyako—toward the Philippine Sea. The Shandong-led naval task group was later tracked moving northeast, reaching north of Okinotorishima on Monday. The island, located over 1,000 miles south of Japan's capital, Tokyo, is the country's southernmost territory. The Shandong conducted flight operations with its fighter jets and helicopters within Japan's 230-mile-wide exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around the island, according to a Japanese Defense Ministry map. The carrier was accompanied by a Type 052D destroyer and a Type 054A frigate. All countries have the right to conduct freedom of navigation and overflight within an EEZ, a maritime area beyond and adjacent to a nation's territorial sea—which extends up to 13.8 miles from the coastline—according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The dual aircraft carrier deployment is just another example of the Chinese navy expanding its reach in international waters, Tom Shugart, a former U.S. Navy submariner and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Newsweek in an email. "In the event of a conflict, a PLA Navy that is the U.S. Navy's equal is not one that fights in the Western Pacific—it's one that challenges for control of the Central Pacific," Shugart said, referring to the official name of the Chinese navy, the People's Liberation Army Navy. Chinese aircraft carriers CNS Liaoning, right, and CNS Shandong carry out a dual carrier formation exercise for the first time in the South China Sea in late October 2024. Chinese aircraft carriers CNS Liaoning, right, and CNS Shandong carry out a dual carrier formation exercise for the first time in the South China Sea in late October 2024. Chen Mengxi/Xinhua via AP "I think the [dual aircraft carrier deployment] is interesting, but also unsurprising in the larger context of evolving Chinese blue water operations," Australia-based naval analyst Alex Luck said in an email to Newsweek, referring to a navy capable of operating globally. "I would expect [the Chinese navy] to schedule repeats and increasing complexity for such future activities," Luck said—especially once CNS Fujian, China's third aircraft carrier, which is yet to be commissioned, becomes operational with a more capable carrier-based aviation unit. What People Are Saying Tom Shugart, a former U.S. Navy submariner, told Newsweek: "China is now, by far, the world's dominant maritime power by every measure other than sheer naval tonnage (U.S. Navy ships are, on average, still larger), and its maritime interests are global in nature. That we also see global Chinese naval power should come as no surprise." Australia-based naval analyst Alex Luck told Newsweek: "My personal view is that China does consider their carrier force as an important element in adding strategic space across the Pacific, aimed at making American deployments near the Chinese main more challenging." What Happens Next The Chinese navy may conduct its second dual aircraft carrier operation as the Liaoning and the Shandong operate around the Second Island Chain, a Newsweek map shows. The two aircraft carriers conducted their first joint operation last October in the South China Sea.
2 hours ago
Filipino forces and villagers struggle to live in China's shadow in disputed waters
WEST YORK ISLAND, South China Sea -- Overwhelmed after setting foot for the first time on a far-flung but picturesque island in the disputed South China Sea, a Filipino army official knelt to kiss the shore. She held a small Philippine flag that fluttered in the breeze. 'This is just so beautiful,' Philippines military spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said of West York Island, one of nine islands, reefs and atolls occupied by Filipino forces in the long-contested waters. 'This solidifies our resolve to fight for this place whatever happens.' The 18.6-hectare (46-acre) droplet-shaped island, called Likas by Filipinos, could easily become an eco-tourism draw in tropical Asia with its powdery white-sand beaches, turquoise waters and giant sea turtle sanctuaries. Padilla expressed hope it could someday be opened to Filipino travelers and tourists from across the world. But that longstanding aspiration by Philippine officials has been stymied by a tangle of territorial conflicts involving a militarily superior China. Beijing claims virtually the entire South China Sea, a vital global trade route with rich undersea deposits of gas and oil. It has increasingly flexed its military might, including its navy — the largest in the world — to strengthen its grip on a strategic waterway it says it has owned since ancient times. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan contest China's expansive claims with their own, and the territorial stand-offs have increasingly flared into cat-and-mouse confrontations at sea in recent years. The long-simmering disputes are also a delicate fault line in the regional rivalry between Beijing and Washington. Both former President Joe Biden and his successor, Donald Trump, have condemned China's growing aggression in the contested waters, including its coast guard's use of powerful water cannons, blinding military-grade lasers and dangerous sea maneuvers against the coast guard and navy of the Philippines, Washington's oldest treaty ally in Asia. Under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office in mid-2022, the Philippines has intensified a campaign to expose China's increasingly assertive actions by capturing them in video and photographs. The images have then been made public in the hope that international pressure would prompt Beijing to back down to avoid damage to its reputation. The Philippine military invited a small group of journalists, including two from The Associated Press, in a dayslong naval patrol of the South China Sea territories claimed by Manila and on visits to navy and marine forces deployed to guard them. During the patrol, which ended over the weekend, the BRP Andres Bonifacio navy ship carrying the journalists warned a number of Chinese coast guard ships and suspected Chinese militia vessels by two-way radio to move away from Philippines-claimed waters. The Chinese ships responded by asserting their sovereignty in the offshore region without undertaking any provocative actions. On West York Island, two Filipino marines in camouflage uniforms stood guard with M4 assault rifles under a Philippine flag. One used binoculars to scan the surrounding waters for Chinese or Vietnamese ships passing by from a distance. One of the farthest islands in the disputed waters from the nearest Philippine province of Palawan, West York is a difficult and risky post, where Filipino forces see nothing beyond the small island but sea. Military personnel can occasionally call their loved ones during their two-month deployment, but the internet connection is spotty, especially during the typhoon season that starts in June, according to military personnel on the island. They grow eggplants, okra and chili peppers and raise goats and chickens to augment food provisions delivered by navy ships from Palawan. There is a makeshift basketball court to help while away off-duty time and ease the feeling of isolation. 'It's being away from your family,' Padilla said. 'At the end of the day, you go home to an empty room.' Marine Col. Joel Bonavente, who was among the visiting military officials, told AP that military personnel posted in the remote outpost get additional pay to compensate for the "hazard and loneliness.' On Thitu, the largest Philippines-claimed island, which lies west of West York, civilians have thrived for decades in a small fishing village alongside the military forces. An AP journalist who visited Thitu several years ago saw an island with only a few low-slung wooden and concrete buildings and a gravel airstrip that was being eroded by the constant pounding of waves. There were a few shanties mainlanders had moved to from Palawan in exchange for a monthly government provision of groceries, rice and cash in a bid to grow a civilian community. Dramatic infrastructure improvements have occurred through the years on the 37.2-hectare (92-acre) island, which now has a concrete runway, a huge aircraft hangar, a wharf, a storm shelter and concrete roads running through the fishing village, military encampments and a three-story coast guard surveillance center. A high school building is nearly finished near a seawater desalination facility. 'I want to stay on this island because my blood pressure remains stable without the wide selection of fatty food you find in the city like hamburgers,' said Nenita Bania, a 59-year-old villager who has lived with her husband on Thitu for 12 years. 'Lonely? Not really. It's not the case if you're with family,' she told the AP aboard an air force C-130 aircraft, as she and other villagers hitched a ride back to Thitu from Palawan province. Living in China's shadow in the disputed waters, however, has been challenging, said Larry Hugo, 47, who leads a group of at least 114 fishermen. More than a decade ago, China transformed seven disputed South China Sea reefs into island bases, where Chinese coast guard and navy ships can now refuel and obtain supplies for longer periods far from the Chinese mainland. One of China's artificial islands, Subi, has a military-grade runway and lies just 26 kilometers (16 miles) from Thitu. 'There were no Chinese ships before but now it's a big problem because they are all around our island,' Hugo said. 'They're guarding the reefs where we used to fish, and they block us so we can't venture far.' 'It's very dangerous,' he said. 'We have small boats and we may be run over and that'll be a big problem because we're far from civilization.'
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
What to know about inspections of Iran's nuclear program by the IAEA ahead of a key board vote
VIENNA (AP) — Iran's nuclear program remains a top focus for inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, particularly as any possible deal between Tehran and the United States over the program would likely rely on the agency long known as the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. This week, Western nations will push for a measure at the IAEA's Board of Governors censuring Iran over its noncompliance with inspectors, pushing the matter before the U.N. Security Council. Barring any deal with Washington, Iran then could face what's known as 'snapback' — the reimposition of all U.N. sanctions on it originally lifted by Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, if one of its Western parties declares the Islamic Republic is out of compliance with it. All this sets the stage for a renewed confrontation with Iran as the Mideast remains inflamed by Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. And the IAEA's work in any case will make the Vienna-based agency a key player. Here's more to know about the IAEA, its inspections of Iran and the deals — and dangers — at play. Atoms for peace The IAEA was created in 1957. The idea for it grew out of a 1953 speech given by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the U.N., in which he urged the creation of an agency to monitor the world's nuclear stockpiles to ensure that 'the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life." Broadly speaking, the agency verifies the reported stockpiles of member nations. Those nations are divided into three categories. The vast majority are nations with so-called 'comprehensive safeguards agreements" with the IAEA, states without nuclear weapons that allow IAE monitoring over all nuclear material and activities. Then there's the 'voluntary offer agreements' with the world's original nuclear weapons states — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. — typically for civilian sites. Finally, the IAEA has 'item-specific agreements' with India, Israel and Pakistan — nuclear-armed countries that haven't signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. That treaty has countries agree not to build or obtain nuclear weapons. North Korea, which is also nuclear armed, said it has withdrawn from the treaty, though that's disputed by some experts. The collapse of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, negotiated under then-President Barack Obama, allowed Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67% — enough to fuel a nuclear power plant but far below the threshold of 90% needed for weapons-grade uranium. It also drastically reduced Iran's stockpile of uranium, limited its use of centrifuges and relied on the IAEA to oversee Tehran's compliance through additional oversight. But President Donald Trump in his first term in 2018 unilaterally withdrew America from the accord, insisting it wasn't tough enough and didn't address Iran's missile program or its support for militant groups in the wider Mideast. That set in motion years of tensions, including attacks at sea and on land. Iran now enriches up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. It also has enough of a stockpile to build multiple nuclear bombs, should it choose to do so. Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the IAEA, Western intelligence agencies and others say Tehran had an organized weapons program up until 2003. IAEA inspections and Iran Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to allow the IAEA even greater access to its nuclear program. That included permanently installing cameras and sensors at nuclear sites. Those cameras, inside of metal housings sprayed with a special blue paint that shows any attempt to tamper with it, took still images of sensitive sites. Other devices, known as online enrichment monitors, measured the uranium enrichment level at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility. The IAEA also regularly sent inspectors into Iranian sites to conduct surveys, sometimes collecting environmental samples with cotton clothes and swabs that would be tested at IAEA labs back in Austria. Others monitor Iranian sites via satellite images. In the years since Trump's 2018 decision, Iran has limited IAEA inspections and stopped the agency from accessing camera footage. It's also removed cameras. At one point, Iran accused an IAEA inspector of testing positive for explosive nitrates, something the agency disputed. The IAEA has engaged in years of negotiations with Iran to restore full access for its inspectors. While Tehran hasn't granted that, it also hasn't entirely thrown inspectors out. Analysts view this as part of Iran's wider strategy to use its nuclear program as a bargaining chip with the West. What happens next Iran and the U.S. have gone through five rounds of negotiations over a possible deal, with talks mediated by the sultanate of Oman. Iran appears poised to reject an American proposal over a deal this week, potentially as soon as Tuesday. Without a deal with the U.S., Iran's long-ailing economy could enter a freefall that could worsen the simmering unrest at home. Israel or the U.S. might carry out long-threatened airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities. Experts fear Tehran in response could decide to fully end its cooperation with the IAEA, abandon the the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and rush toward a bomb. If a deal is reached — or at least a tentative understanding between the two sides — that likely will take the pressure off for an immediate military strike by the U.S. Gulf Arab states, which opposed Obama's negotiations with Iran in 2015, now welcome the talks under Trump. Any agreement would require the IAEA's inspectors to verify Iran's compliance. But Israel, which has struck at Iranian-backed militants across the region, remains a wildcard on what it could do. Last year, it carried out its first military airstrikes on Iran — and has warned it is willing to take action alone to target Tehran's program, like it has in the past in Iraq in 1981 or Syria in 2007. ___ Associated Press writer Stephanie Liechtenstein contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape:
