The United States has asked Italy to arrest and extradite the Iranian national suspected of transferring drone technology.

Tehran, Iran – Iran’s foreign ministry and judiciary confirmed that Iranian national Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested in Italy at the request of the United States, has been released.

The judiciary’s official news outlet Mizan said on Sunday that Abedini had returned to Tehran after being arrested due to a “misunderstanding.”

The report, also carried by state television, said he had been released following talks between Iran’s intelligence ministry and Italian intelligence.

In a brief statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei welcomed the release of the Iranian national, whom Washington accused of involvement in the January 2024 attack on a U.S. outpost in Jordan. Man-machine attack Killed three American soldiers. He stressed that the ministry will defend the rights of Iranian nationals abroad.

Abedini was arrested on December 16 on a U.S. arrest warrant and is accused of working with another Iranian to provide Iran with drone technology for use at U.S. military bases.

He is due to appear in a Milan court on Wednesday as he applies for house arrest while awaiting extradition to the United States. But the Italian Ministry of Justice asked the Court of Appeal to quash his arrest, saying it was “incompatible with any conduct considered a crime under Italian law”.

Three days after Abedini’s arrest, Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was traveling on a regular journalist visa, was detained in Tehran and charged with “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic.”

Writer and Podcaster Posted last week She returned home from solitary confinement in the Iranian capital’s Evin prison and was greeted by Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

A few days ago, Meloni personally made a surprise visit to Mar-a-Lago in Florida, USA, and met with US President-elect Donald Trump, who called her an “amazing woman.”

Tehran has rejected any Western speculation that the journalist’s arrest was related to Rome’s detention of Abedini at the behest of the United States. For decades, Iranian authorities have been accused of using some prisoners as Bargaining chips with the West.

A Swiss citizen held on espionage charges died in a prison in Iran’s Semnan province on Thursday.

An Iranian court last month sentenced an Iranian-American journalist to 10 years in prison for the crime “Cooperating with a hostile U.S. government”.

Iran has also accused Western countries, particularly the United States, of targeting its citizens under 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 be on high alert over the growing fallout from Israel’s war in Gaza, just days away from Trump’s second term as president.

Top commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and military warned the United States and Israel this week against any attacks on Iran’s nuclear or energy infrastructure.

On Sunday, Iran’s armed forces completed a large-scale military exercise aimed at practicing layered defense against Iran. Fordow and Kondab Nuclear Power Plants Uses a variety of missile defense and radar systems.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are also simulating the defense of the country’s main nuclear facility at Natanz against attacks using fighter jets, missiles and bunker bombs as part of exercises that began last week and will continue for weeks.

Iran’s armed forces also unveiled another “missile city” this week, displaying hundreds of ballistic missiles that commanders say are ready to launch at Israeli and U.S. bases in the region if Iran is attacked.

This came after Iran lost a match as part of a show of force. The main part of the zone resistance axis Iran also sent 110,000 troops to Tehran this week to participate in demonstrations following the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Iran’s nuclear program could also take a different path depending on the Trump administration’s stance Relationship balance expected to be determined in 2025 Meanwhile, the West continues to accuse Tehran of arming Russia in its war with Ukraine.