The Italian government on Thursday summoned the Iranian ambassador to demand the release of journalist Cecilia Sala, who was arrested without due process or clear charges in Tehran on December 19.
Iran responded that Sala will only be freed if Italy releases Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, an Iranian national arrested by Italy on behalf of the United States on December 16.
Abedini, 38, is a drone expert accused of supplying advanced technology to the Iranian military in defiance of U.S. sanctions. Components provided by Abedini were allegedly used in a January 2024 drone attack by Iran-backed militants that killed three U.S. service members in northern Jordan.
Abedini’s company, San’at Danesh Rahpooyan Aflak (SDRA), specializes in creating navigation modules for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The company provides these modules to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government in 2019.
Abedini was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on December 16 for conspiring with Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, a dual U.S.-Iranian national, to illegally procure electronic components from American companies for use by the IRGC. […]
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