Italian minister requests revoking of arrest of detained Iranian businessman

ROME (Reuters) - The Italian justice minister has filed a request to revoke the arrest of an Iranian businessman detained in Milan who was wanted by the United States on suspicion of involvement in a drone strike against its forces, the justice ministry said on Sunday.

Mohammad Abedini was arrested in Milan last month on a U.S. warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in a 2024 attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan.

Iran denied involvement in the attack and dismissed accusations that it had imprisoned Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was freed on Wednesday and returned home, in Tehran to pressure Rome into release Abedini.

"Minister (Carlo) Nordio filed a request with the Milan Court of Appeal to revoke the arrest of Iranian citizen Abedininajafabadi Mohammad," a justice ministry statement said.

Under Italian law, courts must abide by the minister's request.

In his statement, Nordio wrote that legal conditions were not in place to extradite Abedini as that could only be done for offences punishable both in Italy and in the United States.

The statement said violations of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) did not correspond to conduct recognisable as a crime under Italian law. It added there was no evidence corroborating the other charges of supporting a terrorist organisation.

Earlier this week, Nordio said the U.S. had not yet submitted a formal request to extradite Abedini.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante in Rome; additional reporting by Emilio Parodi and Alfredo Faieta in Milan)