Department of Energy has been arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support or resources to the Yemeni-based Houthis, which are designated as a foreign terrorist organization. Justice Department said in a statement that Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, 51, of Richland, Washington, had been arrested on Thursday and charged with attempting to aid the Tehran-backed proxy group, which has attacked U.S. targets during the Iran war. Newsweek reached out to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for comment.
The arrest comes at a time of heightened tensions with Iranian proxies and Tehran itself due to the Iran war. On Sunday, an alleged bomb plot was thwarted at a British air base, RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, which is being used by the U.S. military during the war. British prime minister Andy Burnham said that there were “strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened” in the incident in which five British nationals were arrested and then released on bail.
Ellaboudy worked at the Hanford nuclear site in the Department of Energy Nuclear Safety Division, according to his LinkedIn profile, cited by the Tri-City Herald. He was arrested Thursday morning after agents from the FBI’s Seattle field office and about a dozen vehicles surrounded a home in the 1400 block of Oxford Avenue near the corner of Leslie Street and Canyon Avenue in Richland, according to the outlet. Video on social media purported to show the agents at the property.
Agents also went to the DOE Office of River Protection at 2440 Stevens Center Place in Richland the same morning, the Tri-City Herald reported. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said that Ellaboudy had acquired materials for explosives and drones that could deliver them.
Eisenberg said Ellaboudy tried to help the Houthis improve their communications capabilities. He bought materials for homemade explosives and drones, and went to Yemen, where the Houthis control the capital city, Sanaa. Court records stated that the FBI was alerted to Ellaboudy when it got information about his purchase of the precursor chemicals, components and materials used in homemade explosive devices.
He had also bought parts needed to build drones and remotely operated aerial systems. The FBI found out that he had taken sick leave from his job at the DOE in December 2024, claiming that he had been exposed to highly concentrated nitric acid—a chemical used in making explosive materials. In September 2025, Ellaboudy used an official passport issued to him when he worked for the U.S.
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