(Reuters) - The chief executive officer of an international metallurgical company has been arrested on charges of illegally exporting aerospace-grade metals to Iran, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Erdal Kuyumcu, 44, of Woodside, New York, was to make his initial court appearance in New York on Tuesday afternoon, the Justice Department said in a news release.

The complaint alleges that Kuyumcu, a U.S. citizen and the CEO of Global Metallurgy LLC, twice exported a cobalt-nickel powder used in aerospace, missile production and nuclear applications. Exporting the metallic powder to Iran without a license from the U.S. Treasury Department is illegal, the news release said.