Tehran, Iran – Iran's Foreign Ministry and judiciary have confirmed that Iranian national Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested in Italy at the behest of the United States, has been released. Abedini was returned to Tehran after being arrested as part of a "misunderstanding", Mizan, the official news outlet of the judiciary, said on Sunday. The report, also aired by state television, said his release was secured after talks between the Iranian intelligence ministry and the Italian intelligence service. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei in a short statement welcomed the release of the Iranian national, who is accused by Washington of involvement with a January 2024 drone attack on a US outpost in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. He stressed the ministry would defend the rights of Iranian nationals abroad.

An Iranian-American citizen and a Swiss Iranian have been arrested and charged by United States authorities with allegedly exporting sensitive technology to Iran that was used in a deadly drone attack on American forces based in Jordan. Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed fighters, was alleged to have carried out the drone attack that killed three US soldiers and wounded 47 others at a US military outpost in Jordan, near the Syrian border, in January. Federal prosecutors in Boston on Monday charged 38-year-old Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, who is known as Mohammad Abedini, the co-founder of an Iranian-based company, and Mahdi Sadeghi, 42, an employee of Massachusetts-based semiconductor manufacturer Analog Devices, with conspiring to violate US export laws. Abedini, a dual citizen of Switzerland and Iran, was arrested in Milan, Italy, at the request of the US government, which will seek his extradition. Sadeghi, an Iranian-born naturalised US citizen, who lives in Natick, Massachusetts, was also arrested.