Foreign Ministry Claims: Sala's Arrest is Unrelated to the Arrest of Iranian Citizen in Italy

The Iranian Foreign Ministry claimed that the arrest of an Italian journalist in Tehran is 'not related at all' to the arrest of an Iranian citizen connected to the government in Italy. Ismail Baqaei, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, on Monday, January 7, referred to the arrest of this Iranian citizen as 'hostage-taking' and asserted that the two arrests in Iran and Italy 'have no connection with each other.' Mohammad Abedini, accused by the U.S. of transferring sensitive drone parts to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was arrested on December 17 at Milan airport, Italy. Three days later, on December 20, Iran arrested an Italian journalist named Cecilia Sala, who had traveled to Iran with a permit from the Ministry of Culture. Following the news of Ms. Sala's arrest in Tehran, the Ministry of Culture issued an ambiguous statement claiming that she was arrested and imprisoned for 'violating the laws of the Islamic Republic,' a claim that was reiterated by the spokesperson of the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday. According to ISNA news agency, Baqaei described the Ministry of Culture's statement as 'clear' and again spoke of the violation of laws without specifying which law the Italian journalist had violated. Meanwhile, the claim of no connection between the two arrests from Iran comes at a time when Mohammad Reza Sabouri, the Iranian ambassador in Rome, himself mentioned the connection between Cecilia Sala's arrest and Mohammad Abedini's arrest in a note published on social media after being summoned to the Italian Foreign Ministry. Prior to him, Majid Nili Ahmadabadi, the director-general for Western Europe at the Foreign Ministry, had stated in a meeting with the Italian ambassador that Abedini's arrest was 'illegal' and he should be 'released as soon as possible.' Now, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry has effectively rejected the opinions of his two colleagues from the previous week. This new statement from the Foreign Ministry comes as the Italian Prime Minister, who has very good relations with Donald Trump, the elected President of the United States, and Elon Musk, traveled to Florida to meet Trump, and it was reported that she would also discuss Sala with the future U.S. President. In this context, the Italian newspaper Il Giornale reported on Monday that Giorgia Meloni, the Prime Minister, has managed to gain Donald Trump's consent to delay Abedini's extradition to the U.S. According to this newspaper, which has not yet been officially confirmed, the Italian government will attempt to free the Italian journalist from Evin prison during this 'limited' delay. Last week, an Italian newspaper quoted relatives of Cecilia Sala, the imprisoned journalist in Evin prison, stating that she had spent the past two weeks in 'very harsh conditions' and in solitary confinement.