THREE men who ran a business exporting military equipment for Iranian fighter jets from an Oxfordshire business park were jailed for 10 years.

HM Revenue & Customs investigators uncovered the plot when they found a consignment of oxygen cylinders at Heathrow Airport bound for Tehran in May 2006.

The cylinders allow pilots to breathe at high altitude and their trade is a contravention of an embargo on military exports to Iran.

A spokesman for the HMRC said the three men ran Aerospace Support International, from Monument Business Park, in Chalgrove.

Nithisha Jaitha, 43, of Uxbridge, in Middlesex, and Mohsen Nik, 49, and his son Mohammad Nik, 26, of Ascot, in Berkshire, were found guilty yesterday of conspiracy to export controlled goods following a five-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.

Iran’s aging jet fighters include the F-14 Tomcat, which was featured in the 1980s movie Top Gun, F4 Phantoms, F5 Tigers and Cobra Attack helicopters, which can only be kept in service through parts purchased in USA then shipped to Iran illegally.

The trial heard the three men bought the equipment on eBay to avoid exports controls.

Nik and his son had been sent a wishlist from Iranian sources requesting military parts.

Jaitha was tasked with sourcing the equipment from USA and exporting it under false papers.

Mohsen Nik and Mohammad Nik were jailed for five years and two-and-a-half years respectively. Jaitha was sentenced to two-and-a-half years.