{"id":216038,"date":"2025-01-15T18:21:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T18:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/15\/musk-said-to-have-intervened-to-help-free-italian-jailed-in-iran\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T18:21:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T18:21:16","slug":"musk-said-to-have-intervened-to-help-free-italian-jailed-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/15\/musk-said-to-have-intervened-to-help-free-italian-jailed-in-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Musk Said to Have Intervened to Help Free Italian Jailed in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/15\/world\/hfo-iran-musk\/hfo-iran-musk-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Musk Said to Have Intervened to Help Free Italian Jailed in Iran\" title=\"Musk Said to Have Intervened to Help Free Italian Jailed in Iran\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When an Italian journalist was arrested in Iran in December, her boyfriend back home feared she might linger in prison for years. So, amid talk that Iran and Italy were negotiating a prisoner swap that involved the United States, he says, he decided to try to get a message to someone who might be in a position to help.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His name was Elon Musk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Not only was Mr. Musk close to President-elect Donald J. Trump, a month before the journalist was detained, the tech billionaire had a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/11\/14\/world\/middleeast\/elon-musk-iran-trump.html\" title=\"\">secret meeting<\/a> with the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last week, the journalist, Cecilia Sala, 29, was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/08\/world\/europe\/italy-iran-cecilia-sala-journalist-released.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&amp;smtyp=cur\" title=\"\">released from prison<\/a> in Iran, and days later an Iranian engineer whom Italy had detained on an American extradition request <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/12\/world\/europe\/italy-iran-us-abedini.html\" title=\"\">was also freed<\/a>. The engineer was accused of providing material for drones used in an Iranian-backed militia attack on a U.S. military base that killed three American servicemen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Musk helped secure the release of Ms. Sala by reaching out to Iran\u2019s ambassador to the U.N., Amir Saeid Iravani, according to two Iranian officials, one a senior diplomat at the Foreign Ministry, who are both familiar with the terms of the prisoner exchange. They asked that their names not to be published because they were discussing a sensitive issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Neither Mr. Musk nor representatives of the Trump transition responded to repeated requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">How Mr. Musk, an increasingly active if uncredentialed player on the world stage since the Trump victory, came to take up the journalist\u2019s cause remains unclear. He is close with Italy\u2019s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/04\/world\/europe\/italy-donald-trump-meloni-visit.html\" title=\"\">traveled to Mar-a-Lago<\/a>, the Trump estate in Florida where Mr. Musk has been a regular, and met with the president-elect on Jan 4.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Meloni said at a news conference last week that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/08\/world\/europe\/italy-iran-cecilia-sala-journalist-released.html#:~:text=Cecilia%20Sala%2C%20an%20Italian%20journalist,that%20had%20gripped%20her%20country.\" title=\"\">Ms. Sala\u2019s release<\/a> was the result of a \u201ccomplex work of diplomatic triangulation with Iran, and obviously also with the United States of America.\u201d<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>Her office and the Italian Foreign Ministry declined to comment for this article.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A senior Biden administration official said the American government had not been consulted about the negotiations, had not been given advance word about the releases, and disapproved of the deal. John Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said that the deal had been \u201can Italian decision from soup to nuts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the news conference, Ms. Meloni said she did not know what part if any Mr. Musk had played in Ms. Sala\u2019s release. \u201cIf he had a role, I am not aware of it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The ambiguity highlights the unusual role Mr. Musk has been playing as he sits at Mr. Trump\u2019s side, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/13\/world\/europe\/maga-musk-europe-interference.html\" title=\"\">backing far-right parties in Europe<\/a> even as he continues to promote his business interests abroad. Italy, for example, is currently exploring a potential deal with Mr. Musk\u2019s Space X to provide secure communications for government and military officials through Starlink. And Ms. Meloni has been one of Mr. Musk\u2019s ever-present European allies, hosting him at her party\u2019s conference in 2023 and attending a gala with him last October.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By the time of Ms. Meloni\u2019s trip to Mar-a-Lago, Ms. Sala\u2019s boyfriend, Daniele Raineri, had already sought out Mr. Musk\u2019s help through an intermediary, he said. In an interview, Mr. Raineri said that he had thought of him because he had read that there was \u201ca channel between Musk and the Iranian diplomats, and that Musk also works in close contact with Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Raineri, who is also a journalist, said he fired off a message on Dec. 29 to an Italian computer expert and associate of Mr. Musk\u2019s to ask if he could bring Ms. Sala\u2019s case to the billionaire\u2019s attention and seek his help.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The computer expert, Andrea Stroppa, said in an interview that Mr. Musk had acknowledged the request, but that he did not know whether he had become involved in the case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In November, weeks before Ms. Sala was arrested, Mr. Musk met for more than an hour with the Iranian ambassador at the Iranian\u2019s residence in Manhattan to discuss defusing tensions between Tehran and Washington as a new administration prepared to take power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Iranian officials interviewed for this article said that Mr. Musk contacted the ambassador again shortly after Prime Minister Meloni visited Mar-a-Lago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The prisoner exchange between Iran and Italy then unfolded rapidly. Iran released Ms. Sala on Jan. 8, and four days later, Italy <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/12\/world\/europe\/italy-iran-us-abedini.html\" title=\"\">freed the Iranian engineer<\/a>, Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Abedini had been detained at the request of the U.S. Justice Department. A federal court in Massachusetts accused him of procuring drone technology for Iran that was used in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/29\/us\/politics\/us-troops-drone-attack-jordan-iran.html\" title=\"\">the attack<\/a> on the American base, which was in Jordan, in January 2024. The two Iranian officials said that when Mr. Musk spoke with the ambassador, he requested that Iran release Ms. Sala and reassured him that the United States would not pressure Italy to extradite the Iranian engineer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Iran\u2019s mission to the U.N. declined to comment on the recent engagement between Mr. Musk and the ambassador. In a statement, it said the two detainees had been released as a result of \u201cbilateral cooperation and coordinated efforts of the political and intelligence sectors of Iran and Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">All sides are being circumspect in public about what transpired, but to many observers the speedy release of the prisoners following the meeting between Mr. Trump and Ms. Meloni suggested that the topic had been discussed and a resolution was reached.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe most likely reconstruction is that she got a signal of understanding from Trump that the incoming administration would not raise huge problems if it released Abedini,\u201d said Ferdinando Nelli Feroci, a former Italian diplomat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"> .<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Italy detained Mr. Abedini in mid-December as he was transiting through Milan\u2019s airport. Three days later, agents from the intelligence wing of the Revolutionary Guard raided Ms. Sala\u2019s hotel room in Tehran and threw her into solitary confinement at Evin prison. She had traveled to Iran on a journalist visa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A member of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards, and the two Iranian officials said the journalist had been arrested to pressure Italy to release Mr. Abedini.<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>Iran has made the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/16\/world\/middleeast\/iran-hostage-swap-history.html\" title=\"\">detention of foreign and dual nationals<\/a> a centerpiece of its foreign policy <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/16\/world\/middleeast\/iran-hostage-swap-history.html\" title=\"\">f<\/a>or nearly five decades..<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter who you are,\u201d Shahin Modarres, a Rome-based expert on Iran and international security, said in a telephone interview. \u201cYou can be a journalist, a diplomat, a tourist.\u201d He said, \u201cWhat matters is if Iran thinks it can use you as leverage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Sala said in an interview that she had been held in a cell with no mattress and had slept on the floor with one blanket on top and another below. For weeks, she was denied her glasses, and throughout her detention she did not see a human face. She could hear the sound of other inmates crying and vomiting, she said, and was blindfolded and interrogated for hours nearly every day, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">What she feared the most, she said, was \u201cthat I would go insane.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Raineri, her boyfriend, said that on Jan. 2, Ms. Meloni told Ms. Sala\u2019s mother that within the next 48 hours there would be an important development.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Stroppa, the programmer, dropped hints on his account on X. He posted <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/andst7\/status\/1875612496410898636\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a portrayal<\/a> of Mr. Trump, Ms. Meloni and Mr. Musk in ancient Roman attire on the day the prime minister visited Mar-a-Lago. And on the day Ms. Sala was released, he posted an AI-generated <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/andst7\/status\/1877065802265854391?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1877065802265854391%7Ctwgr%5E8ce24bcb9d85508387ede46cb34b3c4b1640f050%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.adnkronos.com%2Fpolitica%2Fmusk-spaghetti-cecilia-sala-libera-cosa-dice-meloni_58yncHmMwlJAzS5FAC1Rs0\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">photo of Mr. Musk eating spaghetti<\/a> with an Italian flag emoji.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Sala said she understood that Italy\u2019s government did what it had to do to free her. \u201cAnd whoever it was they needed to talk to, they talked to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Ryan Mac<!-- --> and <!-- -->Mattathias Schwartz<!-- --> contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/15\/world\/middleeast\/musk-italy-iran-prisoner-exchange.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When an Italian journalist was arrested in Iran in December, her boyfriend back home feared she might linger in prison for years. So, amid talk that Iran and Italy were negotiating a prisoner swap that involved the United States, he says, he decided to try to get a message to someone who might be in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/15\/world\/hfo-iran-musk\/hfo-iran-musk-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[166206,163575,2534,508,164056,38717,19606,3832,156,4267,37415,6039,137131,88818,4733,52,128437],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216040,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216038\/revisions\/216040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}