A US judge today sentenced an Iranian national to more than four years in prison for plotting to export radio equipment and components for anti-tank missiles from the United States to Iran.

Davoud Baniameri, 38, pleaded guilty in May to one count of conspiring to export goods and technology to Iran and one count of attempting to export defense articles without a license or government approval.

At a federal court in Chicago, Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan ordered Baniameri to serve 51 months behind bars.

"This defendant chose to be in the business of illegally exporting items to a state sponsor of terrorism. In doing so, he endangered the national security of the United States," said Illinois attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Also charged in the plot are Andro Telemi, 40, a naturalized US citizen originally from Iran who is awaiting trial, and Syed Majid Mousavi, an Iranian citizen living in Iran who remains at large.

According to the plea agreement, prior to October 10 2008, Mousavi contacted Baniameri in California and asked him to buy and export radio test sets from the United States to Iran.

Baniameri made no attempt to obtain a license from the US government before arranging for three Marconi radio test sets to be shipped to Dubai, for ultimate shipment to Iran.

None of the items ever reached Iran, officials said.

Baniameri, who has been held in jail since his September 2009 arrest, also admitted purchasing 10 connector adapters for TOW and TOW2 anti-tank missiles from a Chicago-area company secretly under the control of US law enforcement.

His aim was likewise to export them to Iran via the United Arab Emirates.