Iran's foreign ministry confirmed on Sunday, January 12, that an Iranian national who was held in Italy had returned home after Rome said it was seeking to revoke his arrest and extradition warrant.
"Esmaeil Baqaei, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced the release of Mr. Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, an Iranian citizen detained in Italy, and his return to his homeland," the ministry said in a statement.
Washington had accused Abedini of supplying sophisticated drone navigation technology to Iran's military, in violation of US sanctions. The components were later used in a January drone strike at a Jordanian military base near the Syrian border that killed three American service members, according to US justice authorities.
Abedini has been held in a Milan jail since his arrest, with Iran denying the accusations and calling his detention an "illegal act" that risked damaging Rome-Tehran relations.
The statement from Iran comes shortly after Italy's justice minister Carlo Nordio said that Rome is seeking to revoke Abedini's arrest and extradition to the US, according to his office.
His release comes just days after Iranian authorities released Italian journalist Cecilia Sala from a Tehran jail, following intense diplomatic efforts by Rome. Nordio's request came four days after Sala's release, but Tehran has denied any links between her case and Abedini's.
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called her release the result of "intense work through diplomatic and intelligence channels."
Accusations
Italy's justice ministry said on Sunday that under Italy's extradition treaty with the United States, extradition can only take place if the alleged crimes are punishable under both country's laws.
"The first conduct attributed to the Iranian citizen of 'criminal association to violate the IEEPA'" is not "punished by the Italian criminal system," the statement said, referring to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a US federal law which gives the US president emergency sanction powers.
Abedini was also accused of "criminal association to provide material support to a terrorist organization resulting in death" and of providing "material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death." But the justice ministry said that no evidence was provided as "a basis for the accusations made."
It added that the only certainty was that Abedini had carried out "production and trade activities of technological instruments with his own country" that had "potential, but not exclusive, military applications."
In its charging documents, the US government called Abedini the founder and managing director of an Iranian company "that manufactures navigation modules used in the" Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's "military drone program."
At the same time as Abedini's arrest in Italy, the US authorities arrested another man, Iranian-American Mahdi Sadeghi, whom it said colluded with Abedini to ship sanctioned items to Iran. He remains in a US jail.