Taiwanese man jailed for U.S.-Iran embargo violations

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Taiwanese man was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison on Friday for illegally exporting banned military-grade components to Iran, some of which may have been used to support its missile program.

A Miami federal judge sentenced Yi-Lan Chen, 40, also known as Kevin Chen, who was arrested in February in the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam on a warrant from the Southern District of Florida.

Chen had faced a maximum 20-year sentence.

He pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to violate the U.S. embargo against Iran by facilitating the purchase and export of various dual-use goods from the United States to Iran by way of Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The goods included turbine engines and spare parts, sealing compound, glass-to-metal pin seals and circular hermetic connectors that could be used in Iran's military and aerospace industries, prosecutors said.

They added that while the goods or technologies have commercial application, they also could make a significant contribution to the military or nuclear potential of other nations and could be detrimental to U.S. national security.

A review this year of ballistic missile defence released by the Pentagon said Iran had developed and acquired ballistic missiles capable of striking targets from the Middle East to Eastern Europe.

To counter the Iranian threat, the United States has expanded land- and sea-based missile defence systems in and around the Gulf, according to U.S. officials.