US seeks to keep Chinese-registered Gulfstream G550 seized after trip to Iran

The US Justice Department has asked a federal judge in California to let the government keep a Chinese-registered Gulfstream G550 that federal agents seized in Alaska in May 2026.

Prosecutors say the US-built business jet flew from Beijing to Tehran without the required US authorization and spent six days in Iran.

The October 28 civil forfeiture complaint identifies the aircraft as a 2012 Gulfstream G550, registration B-8259, registered to Deer Jet (Beijing) Co., Ltd. According to the filing, the jet flew to Tehran on December 13, 2024, and stayed there until it returned to Beijing on December 19.

The six days the Gulfstream spent in Tehran are central to the government’s case. At the time, a US Treasury Department general license allowed certain foreign-registered civil aircraft to visit Iran for up to 72 hours, provided they met the other conditions of the license. Prosecutors say the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control never approved a longer stay for B-8259.

The flight itself also required US approval, prosecutors allege. Because the Gulfstream was built in the United States, flying it from China to Iran technically counted as a reexport under US export control laws. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security never issued a license for the trip, according to the complaint.

Federal agents seized the Gulfstream under a warrant when it landed in Anchorage on May 24, 2026, more than a year after it returned from Tehran.

By the time prosecutors filed the case, the jet was in FBI custody in Virginia.

The Justice Department asked the court to give anyone with a claim to the aircraft an opportunity to contest the forfeiture before the judge decides who gets to keep it.

If the court grants forfeiture, the US government could sell the Gulfstream or keep it for official use. The Justice Department’s complaint does not say what it intends to do with the jet.

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