The United States announced that it is “dismantling a sophisticated Iranian network” used to obtain sensitive military technology, AFP reports.

The network “impersonated and defrauded” dozens of American technology companies out of millions of dollars to “acquire advanced equipment — including spectrum analyzers and security detection devices — for Iran’s defense sector,” State Department Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

The statement did not name the technology companies who were lured into doing business through fake websites that “mimicked real American companies, using intermediaries in Dubai to receive shipments, and then smuggling the technology into Iran in violation of US sanctions”.