For anyone — let alone a middle-aged airplane mechanic from Texas — the plan to smuggle seven jetliners into Iran was audacious and risky.

It also failed.

It involved planes in China, Swiss funds and a blacklisted Iranian airline. Federal prosecutors say Diocenyr Ribamar Barbosa-Santos, 52, of Fort Worth, Texas, tried to broker the $US136.5 million deal out of Florida.

But it failed this month before a single Airbus A300 left the ground.

"It's not every day that someone walks into your office with a charge like this," said William Barner, the lawyer representing Barbosa-Santos, who has been accused of violating federal trade restrictions. If convicted, the penalties include 20 years in prison and a $US1 million fine.