Italy releases Iranian man wanted by U.S. over drone attack that killed 3 soldiers

Italy on Sunday released an Iranian businessman detained last month over his alleged involvement in a drone attack that killed three American service members and wounded dozens more.

Mohammad Abedini, 38, was arrested in Milan in December on a warrant and extradition request made by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The U.S. DOJ had charged Abedini and Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, an Iranian-U.S. national, with conspiring to export sensitive U.S. drone technology to Iran. Abedini also faced charges of supplying material used in the drone strike at a base in Jordan last year.

On Sunday, Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio put in a request to Milan’s court of appeal to revoke Abedini’s arrest after the Italian Justice Ministry determined it didn’t have the grounds to follow through with the U.S. DOJ’s extradition request, Reuters reported.

The U.S. DOJ did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment on the case.

By Sunday evening, IRNA, Iran’s state media, reported that Abedini had safely arrived in Tehran.

The Iranian Judiciary told IRNA that Abedini had been arrested following a “misunderstanding.”

Abedini’s release comes just days after an Italian journalist, Cecilia Sala, was freed after being detained while on a reporting trip in Tehran. Sala, who came to Iran on a journalist visa, was accused of “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Sala was detained on Dec. 19, just three days after Abedini’s arrest in Italy. The timing of both arrests and releases has led to speculation that Sala was used as a bargaining chip in exchange for Abedini’s release.

Sala’s release also came just days after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a surprise visit to Florida to meet with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Meloni said Sala’s release was the result of a “diplomatic triangulation” with Iran and the U.S.