The US had asked Italy to arrest and extradite the Iranian national for allegedly transferring drone technology.
Tehran, Iran – Iran’s Foreign Ministry and judiciary have confirmed that Iranian national Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested in Italy at the behest of the United States, has been released.
Abedini was returned to Tehran after being arrested as part of a “misunderstanding”, Mizan, the official news outlet of the judiciary, said on Sunday.
The report, also aired by state television, said his release was secured after talks between the Iranian intelligence ministry and the Italian intelligence service.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei in a short statement welcomed the release of the Iranian national, who is accused by Washington of involvement with a January 2024 drone attack on a US outpost in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. He stressed the ministry would defend the rights of Iranian nationals abroad.
Abedini was arrested on a US warrant on December 16, having been accused along with another Iranian of supplying drone technology to Iran that was used on the US military base.
He was due to appear at a Milan court on Wednesday in connection with his bid for house arrest pending an extradition process to the US. But Italy’s Justice Ministry asked an appeals court to revoke his arrest, arguing it “did not correspond to any conduct recognised by Italian law as a crime”.
Three days after Abedini’s arrest, Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was detained in Tehran while travelling on a regular journalist visa and accused of “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic”.
The writer and podcaster was released last week from solitary confinement in the Iranian capital’s Evin prison and returned home, where she was greeted by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
Meloni had personally made a surprise visit to the Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida in the US several days earlier to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump, who called her a “fantastic woman”.
Tehran has rejected any speculation by the West that the journalist’s arrest was linked to Rome’s detention of Abedini at the direction of the US. The Iranian establishment has for decades been accused of using some prisoners as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West.
A Swiss national held on spying charges died in a prison in Iran’s Semnan province on Thursday.
A court in Iran last month sentenced an Iranian-American journalist to 10 years in prison for “collaborating with the hostile US government”.
Iran also accuses the West, particularly the US, of targeting its citizens in accordance with Washington’s unilateral sanctions and blacklists, many of which were imposed after then-President Trump reneged on Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.
Tensions remain high
Abedini’s release on Sunday comes as Iran and the region continue to remain on high alert amid the expanding fallout of Israel’s war on Gaza with just days left until a second Trump presidency.
Top Iranian commanders with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the army have this week been warning the US and Israel against any strikes on Iranian nuclear or energy infrastructure.
On Sunday, Iranian armed forces completed large-scale military exercises aimed at practicing a layered defence of the Fordow and Khondab nuclear sites using multiple missile defence and radar systems.
As part of the exercises that began last week and are set to continue for weeks, the IRGC has also simulated defence of the country’s main nuclear facilities at Natanz against an attack using fighter jets, missiles, and bunker-buster bombs.
Iranian armed forces also unveiled another “missile city” this week to show hundreds of ballistic missiles that commanders said would be ready to launch at Israel and US bases across the region if Iran is attacked.
As part of the show of force, which comes after Iran lost a major part of the regional axis of resistance with the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Iran also this week paraded 110,000 forces in demonstrations in Tehran.
The Iranian nuclear programme could take different paths as well, with the stance of the Trump administration expected to determine the balance of relations in 2025 as the West also continues to accuse Tehran of arming Russia in the war with Ukraine.
