After a month of diplomatic tensions between Rome, Washington and Tehran, Iran announced that its citizen who was arrested in Italy at the request of the US would return to his country within hours.
The Iranian judiciary conveyed in a statement on Sunday that the detention of Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, who also holds Swiss citizenship, was the result of a “misunderstanding” that was resolved through negotiations between Iranian and Italian intelligence services, according to Bloomberg News.
Earlier on Sunday, the Italian Ministry of Justice requested an end to Abedini’s detention and confirmed that it did not intend to extradite him to the US.
Abedini’s arrest last December was linked to the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Iran a few days later, who was released from Tehran’s Evin Prison last week.
The Italian government, led by Giorgia Meloni, affirmed that it had made intensive diplomatic and intelligence efforts to resolve the Abedini and Sala cases. Meloni discussed the issue with US President-elect Donald Trump during a meeting on 4 January.
In the US, Abedini faces charges of violating sanctions and providing financial support to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which indirectly led to the deaths of three US soldiers in a 2024 drone attack in Jordan.
READ: Italian journalist freed by Iran, says Meloni’s office