Mohammad Abedini was arrested by Italian authorities at Milan Malpensa airport on an American warrant on December 16, accused of offering the know-how for a drone assault in Jordan that killed three American service personnel.
Iran has warned Italy that it dangers damaging bilateral relations if it bows to US “political and hostile targets” by arresting an American-mandated Iranian engineer in reference to a drone strike in Jordan final 12 months that killed three American troopers.
The alarm was addressed by Tehran to the Italian ambassador to Iran, Paola Amadei, who was summoned to the Farnesina, the official IRNA company reported.
The assembly got here a day after Italy summoned the Iranian ambassador over the detention of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Tehran.
The consecutive diplomatic summons underlined how the three-nation tangle over the destiny of the 2 prisoners was changing into extra difficult for Italy, which is a conventional ally of Washington but in addition maintains good relations with Tehran.
Mohammad Abedini was arrested by Italian authorities at Milan Malpensa airport on a US warrant on December 16.
The U.S. Justice Department accuses him and one other Iranian nationwide of supplying Iran with drone know-how utilized in a January 2024 assault on an American outpost in Jordan that killed three American troopers.
Three days later, the Italian journalist of the newspaper Il Foglio, Cecilia Sala, was arrested in Tehran.
She had arrived within the nation on December 13 on a journalist’s visa and was arrested on fees of violating the legal guidelines of the Islamic Republic, IRNA mentioned.
Il Foglio mentioned Sala is being held in Tehran’s Evin jail, recognized for detaining dissidents.
Italian commentators have speculated that Iran is holding Sala as a bargaining chip to safe Abedini’s launch.
According to IRNA, a Foreign Ministry official, Majid Nili Ahmadabadi, instructed Paola Amadei that Rome’s continued detention of Abedini is an “unlawful act carried out on the idea of the US request and in step with the political and hostile forces of the nation to carry again Iran”. compatriots held hostage in numerous components of the world.”
All eyes are on the Milan Court of Appeal, which has set the listening to for January 15 to determine whether or not to maintain Abedini within the Opera jail in Milan or grant him home arrest pending the beginning of the lengthy extradition course of in America.
The U.S. authorities has not commented publicly on Abedini’s petition, however has beforehand complained to Italy’s Justice Ministry about half a dozen circumstances of suspects needed by the United States who fled Italy earlier than they might be extradited.
Abedini’s lawyer, Alfredo De Francesco, visited his shopper in jail on Friday and mentioned he had requested him about Sala.
He mentioned Abedini had heard about Sala’s case contained in the jail and understood no connection to him.
ANNOUNCEMENT“He requested me if she had been arrested and the way she had been arrested, and why they one way or the other needed to attach her to him,” the lawyer mentioned.
“I defined the scenario to him, even what is claimed on tv, as a result of there is no such thing as a level in denying it, however I defined it to him.”
US federal prosecutors charged Abedini and his co-defendant with export management violations after FBI specialists analyzed the drone navigation system used within the assault on Jordan and tracked it.
US prosecutors mentioned Abedini’s Tehran-based firm produces navigation techniques for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s army drone program.
ANNOUNCEMENTThe Iranian embassy in Italy linked Sala’s destiny to that of Abedini, saying in a press release printed on X that it’ll respect Sala’s rights and expects Italy to do the identical for Abedini.
Traditionally, Iran has loved quiet diplomatic relations with Italy in comparison with different European nations such because the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
These nations routinely accuse Tehran of supplying short-range ballistic missiles to Russia and producing weapons-grade uranium, fees that Iran denies.
