> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://media.proudamericanstudios.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Operation Shakespeare: How HSI Lured an Iranian Arms Procurement Agent to Tbilisi - URL: https://media.proudamericanstudios.com/podcasts/operation-shakespeare-how-hsi-lured-an-iranian-arms-procurement-agent-to-tbilisi/ - Published: 2026-10-06T17:20:34.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-06T17:20:34.000Z - Description: For three years, HSI Philadelphia tracked an Iranian procurement agent seeking U.S. military technology. Retired HSI ASAC Michael Ronayne explains how Operation Shakespeare ended with an undercover takedown in Tbilisi, Georgia. - Author: Editor-in-Chief, Proud American Studios - Tags: The Investigative Files, podcast, Middle East Security & Israel [Watch the Full Episode Now on Proud American Studios](https://app.proudamericanstudios.com/programs/operation-shakespeare-hsi-iran-amir-ardebili-michael-ronayne?ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com) > He sums it all up right there. They think the war is coming. > — Michael Ronayne, retired HSI Assistant Special Agent in Charge On the night of Oct. 2, 2007, in a hotel in downtown Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, federal agents watched the last of four undercover meetings with an Iranian procurement agent. He had spent three years trying to acquire sensitive U.S. military technology for the government of Iran. Minutes later, Georgian officers came through the door. On the first episode of [*The Investigative Files* on Proud American Studios,](https://app.proudamericanstudios.com/programs/the-investigative-files?utm%5Fsource=product&utm%5Fmedium=share&utm%5Fcampaign=content%5Fshare&utm%5Fterm=4244478&utm%5Fcontent=copy) retired Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Michael Ronayne, the case agent on Operation Shakespeare, takes host and retired HSI Special Agent [Michael Koscielniak](https://proudamericanstudios.com/team/michaelkoscielniak?ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com) inside one of the largest undercover international operations HSI has ever run. “Our thought was if we ever are in a war with Iran, we certainly don’t want them to have the ability to paint incoming missiles and aircraft,” Ronayne said. ## **From Boston to the Counterproliferation Group** Ronayne was born and raised in the Boston area and was hired by U.S. Customs as a special agent in the summer of 2001\. He started the academy about one week before 9/11\. He was assigned to the Philadelphia office, worked international drug smuggling cases for about three years, and was then reassigned to the Counter-Proliferation Investigations (CPI) group. That group investigates the unlawful export of sensitive and controlled U.S. technology. ## **The Target** The target was Amir Ardebili, who was born, raised and educated in Shiraz, Iran. After college, he worked for Shiraz Electronics Industries, a subsidiary of Iran Electronics Industries. The U.S. government has sanctioned both companies. Ardebili later left to work independently as a procurement agent and began contacting U.S. businesses. The case started in 2004, when a defense contractor south of Philadelphia reported an unusual request for fighter jet parts. The request came from someone calling himself “Alex Dave,” who claimed to be in Dubai. The phone number on the request had country code 98, which is Iran. P.J. Lechleitner, who held the file as case agent at the time and later became director of ICE, moved the communications to an HSI undercover operation. In 2005, investigators learned that an HSI undercover operation in Boston was dealing with the same man under other names. Ronayne said Ardebili reached at least two or three other HSI undercover operations as well. ### **Six Hundred Requests** In Philadelphia’s operation alone, Ardebili sent requests for quotes on at least 600 components and systems. These included infrared countermeasures that protect aircraft from missiles, Kevlar machinery for making body armor, complete Bell helicopters, and night vision intensifier tubes. Ronayne said Ardebili also obtained a radar cloaking system from another country in a $1 million deal, and it ended up in Iran. ## **Why These Exports Are Illegal** Ronayne explained that three federal agencies control sensitive U.S. exports: - The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control enforces embargoes and economic sanctions. - The Commerce Department controls dual-use items, meaning goods with both civilian and military uses. - The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls restricts military items. Because many of the items Ardebili wanted were military or dual-use, they needed export licenses on top of the ban on trading with Iran. “There’s absolutely no chance that that’s ever gonna be attained by Iran or anybody brokering for Iran,” Ronayne said. He said Iran still uses weapon systems from before 1979, such as the F-4, that depend on U.S. components it cannot legally obtain or reliably build. ## **Building the Undercover** HSI Philadelphia ran the operation from a real storefront in Yardley, Pennsylvania, about 20 to 30 miles from the office. The goal was to remove any sign of the government. Agents drove cars that were not registered to the government, received mail there, and kept the business looking active. Two undercover agents worked there almost every day. Communication with Ardebili ran through email, Yahoo Messenger and the occasional phone call. ### **The Turning Point: “Darius”** Contact with Ardebili was erratic, and at one point Ronayne and Lechleitner discussed closing the case. Instead, they brought in an HSI undercover agent based in Europe with a long background in counterproliferation, referred to in the episode as “Darius.” He posed as a Russian operating in Eastern Europe who could get U.S. technology through his “cousin,” a role played by the Philadelphia team. A legitimate arms dealer introduced Darius to Ardebili, which gave him credibility. Ronayne called this the true turning point. Ardebili urgently asked for phase shifters for phased array radar, and later for a digital air data computer. According to Ronayne, the phase shifter deal was presented as worth about $90,000, and a down payment was required. When communication slowed again, Darius challenged him, telling him he talked a lot but did not do anything. Ronayne said that in July 2006, Lechleitner called to tell him the down payment had arrived. [Watch the Full Episode Now on Proud American Studios](https://app.proudamericanstudios.com/programs/operation-shakespeare-hsi-iran-amir-ardebili-michael-ronayne?ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com) ## **The Technology at Stake** The charges focused on three items: - **Phase shifters:** microchips small enough to sit on a fingertip. They are used in electronic warfare and satellite communications, but Iran wanted them for phased array radar, which can track incoming missiles and aircraft. The two sides settled on 1,000 units, down from an original request of about 1,500. - **Digital air data computer:** an F-4 upgrade that measures airspeed, static pressure and true angle of attack. Ronayne said his understanding is that it also improves weapon delivery performance. - **Gyro chip sensors:** the subject of the Boston charges. These are ruggedized chips used in rockets and missiles to measure angular rate, and they are controlled on the U.S. Munitions List. “We certainly cannot have these types of items being sent to Iran and potentially one day being used against U.S. troops,” Ronayne said. ## **Getting the Target to Georgia** Ronayne credited Philadelphia’s leadership, including group supervisor John Malandra, for approving an operation he said many leaders would not have signed off on. The Republic of Georgia was chosen because Darius’s office had a strong relationship with Georgian authorities, who would allow U.S. agents to collect evidence and take it with them. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dave Hall of the District of Delaware and Lechleitner went ahead to secure authorizations, and the team began targeting dates in the fall of 2007. Ardebili did not want to travel, and an earlier meeting planned for Dubai never happened. Darius pitched a larger long-term business deal and insisted on meeting face to face. To complete the phase shifter violation, the U.S. manufacturer helped the team: agents bought 10 real units, and the company prepared 990 weighted dummies in genuine packaging. That turned out to matter. Ardebili had separately obtained real phase shifters from a New York company, and those had reached Iran, so he knew exactly what the real ones looked like and weighed. ## **Four Meetings in Tbilisi** Ardebili flew from Tehran to Azerbaijan, then from Baku to Tbilisi. The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs protected the undercover agents, and two of its officers posed as Darius’s bodyguards and drove him in an armored Mercedes SUV. Ardebili unexpectedly arrived with an older man he introduced as his father, Nasrullah. The team watched him closely, but he turned out to have no role. The meetings took place at the Hotel Old Tbilisi. Ronayne and DCIS case agent, Bob Lerario, monitored from an adjacent room, recording on VHS and taking down every word as a backup. Ronayne checked off each element of each violation as it was captured. ### **On the Record** The recordings captured Ardebili saying the phase shifters were for anti-missile radar, confirming he was the person behind every Yahoo Messenger conversation, naming Iran as his customer, describing the urgency of the F-4 upgrade, and seeking Kevlar and machinery to make body armor. Ronayne said one line closed every briefing he later gave on the case: “They think the war is coming.” ## **The Takedown** Before the final meeting, the team also completed Boston’s case. Ardebili had already sent $7,000 from Dubai to HSI Boston’s undercover account for gyro chips, so a Philadelphia undercover agent played the Boston businessman and showed him the chips in Tbilisi. That left him facing charges in two districts. With every objective met, Darius looked toward the hidden camera, gave a wink and a slight nod, and a Georgian unit carried out the arrest. “They hit the door hard,” Ronayne said. Because his conduct also violated Georgian law, Ardebili was held in a Georgian prison and went through the Georgian judicial process before he could be extradited to face charges in Delaware and Massachusetts. Ronayne praised his Georgian partners: “They put themselves in harm’s way for this... they were steadfast, strong, tough.” ## **The Laptop** Darius had asked Ardebili to bring his laptop to the meetings. An HSI agent from the Frankfurt, Germany, office later hand-delivered it to the team. It held more than 100,000 emails, financial records, and Iran’s past and future procurement needs, and it helped identify co-conspirators and their true identities. Koscielniak said the laptop went on to fuel dozens of investigations in the U.S. and abroad, a story the two plan to cover in a future episode. [Watch the Full Episode Now on Proud American Studios](https://app.proudamericanstudios.com/programs/operation-shakespeare-hsi-iran-amir-ardebili-michael-ronayne?ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/7e/617ea0f9-9c68-4cf4-99c3-4aefef529f30/content/images/2026/09/GHOST-BIG-BLOCK-top-left-logo-2.png) ## ****Join Proud American Studios** Join a growing community of Americans who value faith, freedom, and country. Enjoy exclusive programming, member-only events, and a private community—all while saving over 50% with an annual membership. [BECOME A FOUNDING MEMBER](https://app.proudamericanstudios.com/join?ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com)