Updated

A U.S. citizen convicted of conspiring to provide material support to the Taliban and acquire anti-aircraft missiles has been sentenced in New York to 25 years in prison.

Alwar Pouryan (AH'-wahr per-AHN') was sentenced Wednesday to the mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years for the anti-aircraft missile count but was spared a life sentence. Pouryan and a co-defendant were convicted last month.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement afterward that Pouryan was "an American who was all too willing to do business with the Taliban." He called the sentence "just and appropriate for an individual who so callously sold out his country."

Pouryan was arrested in Bucharest, Romania, last February.

Authorities say the men were approached by U.S. government witnesses posing as representatives of the Taliban.