Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister
Antonio Tajani said Wednesday that Tehran had wanted the case of
Cecilia Sala, the Italian journalist released by Iran after
being arrested there last month, separated from that of Mohammed
Adedini Najafabadi.
Iranian engineer Adedini Najafabadi was detained at a Milan
airport under a US warrant on charges of exporting drone parts
allegedly used to kill three US servicemen in Jordan a year ago
three days before Sala's arrest
"The Iranians themselves separated the two (cases)," Tajani told
Rai television when asked about the possible impact of the
meeting in Florida at the weekend between Premier Giorgia Meloni
and US President-elect Donald Trump.
"In the meantime, let's enjoy the return of Cecilia Sala, a good
journalist, to Italy.
"I am particularly pleased because I am a personal friend of her
father, so, in addition to my duty as a minister, I also put in
some affection for her father, who is a friend."
Tajani said Sala's release showed that the government's
sometimes-criticized approach of working in silence and "under
the radar" had paid off.
"That's how you get positive results, without talking too much,
and we succeeded," he said.
"It was a great team effort of government, the intelligence and
diplomatic services, with the direct commitment of the premier,
Cabinet Secretary (Alfredo) Mantovano and obviously mine as
foreign minister".
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