The US asked Italy to build and export Iran for the transfer of drone technology.
Tehran, Iran The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran and the courts have confirmed that the Iranian citizen, Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested in Italy by the decision of the United States, has been released.
Abedini was returned to Tehran after his arrest as part of a “misunderstanding”, Mizan, a judicial reporter, said on Sunday.
The report, which was also aired by state television, said his release was secured after talks between Iran's foreign ministry and Italy's intelligence agency.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Esmaeil Baghaei briefly welcomed the release of Iran, which is accused by Washington of participating in the drone attack in January 2024 on the US military base in Jordan. which killed three American soldiers. He stressed that the ministry will protect the rights of Iranian citizens abroad.
Abedini was arrested on a US warrant on December 16, accused along with another Iranian of supplying drone technology to Iran that was used in the US military.
He is due to appear in a Milan court on Wednesday in a case of a pending extradition to the US. But Italy's Ministry of Justice asked the appeals court to stop his arrest, saying it “does not correspond to what Italian law recognizes as a crime”.
Three days after Abedini's arrest, Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was arrested in Tehran while traveling on a regular journalist's visa and accused of “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic”.
Writer and podcaster it was released last week from solitary confinement in Evin prison in the capital of Iran and back home, where he was received by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
Meloni made a surprise visit to her home in Mar-a-Lago in Florida in the US a few days earlier to meet US President-elect Donald Trump, who called her a “good woman”.
Tehran has rejected any Western suggestion that the journalist's arrest is related to the US-led arrest of Abedini in Rome. The Iranian establishment for decades has been accused of using some prisoners as negotiating chips in negotiations with West.
A Swiss citizen arrested on espionage charges died on Thursday in a prison in Iran's Semnan province.
A court in Iran last month sentenced an Iranian-American journalist to 10 years in prison for “Cooperating with a hostile US government”.
Iran also criticizes the West, particularly the US, for targeting its citizens under Washington-imposed sanctions and blacklists, many of which were put in place after then-President Trump abandoned the Iran nuclear deal with international powers in 2018.
Conflicts remain high
Abedini's release on Sunday comes as Iran and the region remain on high alert amid the escalation of Israel's war on Gaza just days before Trump's second term as president.
Iran's top commanders including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the military have this week warned the US and Israel against any strikes on Iran's nuclear weapons or energy systems.
On Sunday, Iran's armed forces completed a major military exercise aimed at protecting the army. Fordow and Khondab nuclear power plants using a number of anti-missile and radar systems.
As part of an exercise that began last week and is expected to continue for several weeks, the IRGC has taken over the security of the main nuclear facility in Natanz against threats from warplanes, missiles, and explosives.
Iran's military unveiled “another city” this week to display hundreds of missiles that the administration said would be ready to air on Israel and US bases across the region if Iran is attacked.
As part of a show of strength, which comes after Iran lost a the main part of the fighting area and the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Iran also this week held a demonstration of 110,000 soldiers in Tehran.
Iran's nuclear program could also take different paths, and Trump's approach is expected to know the extent of the relationship in 2025 as the West continues to blame Tehran for holding Russia to war with Ukraine.