According to the New York Times, the boyfriend of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, arrested on December 19 in Iran and released on January 8, contacted Elon Musk to try to speed up her release. Elon Musk confirmed that he had spoken to the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations about the matter.
Elon Musk, boss of Tesla and .
Contacts between Cecilia Sala’s boyfriend and Musk in Italy
Last December 29, Daniele Raineri, Sala’s boyfriend, sent a message to Andrea Stroppa, Musk’s contact in Italy, asking him to bring the situation to the billionaire’s attention. In an interview, Raineri said she thought of him because he had read that there was an open channel of communication between Musk and some Iranian diplomats.
Stroppa then declared that the billionaire had “took note of the request, but did not know whether he had been involved in the matter”. Shortly after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, the billionaire reportedly contacted Iranian Ambassador to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani to discuss the matter.
The two Iranian officials said that when Musk spoke to the ambassador, he asked Iran to release the journalist and reassured him that US would not pressure Italy to extradite Abedini.
At a press briefing after Sala’s release, Meloni said she had no information about Musk’s role in the release. A Biden administration spokesperson said the U.S. government was not involved in the negotiations.
However, the New York Times still admits to ignoring “how Musk, an increasingly active, if uncredited, player on the world stage after Trump’s victory, came to embrace the journalist’s cause. He is close to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who visited Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida property where Mr. Musk regularly attends, and met with the president-elect on January 4“, we can read.
Musk’s promise: “no pressure from the United States to extradite Abedini.”
Mr. Sala was arrested on December 19 in Tehran, the Iranian capital, apparently for “violation of Islamic law”. Iran then released the journalist on January 8, and four days later Italy released Iranian engineer Mohammad Abedini. A surprising move that led many people to speculate about a prisoner exchange between the two countries.
Mohammad Abedini was detained on Italian soil at the request of the American Department of Justice, which suspects him for providing Iran with drone technology which was later used in the January 2024 attack on the US base in Jordan.
Sala arrested by Iran to speed up Abedini’s release
Italy arrested Abedini in mid-December while he was in transit at Milan’s Malpensa airport. Three days later, Revolutionary Guards searched Ms. Sala’s hotel room and placed her in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. The woman had traveled to Iran on a journalist’s visa.
According to the New York Times, a member of the Revolutionary Guards and the two Iranian officials say journalist was arrested to pressure Italy with a view to the release of Abedini.
In November, weeks before Sala’s arrest, Musk met for more than an hour with the Iranian ambassador at his Manhattan residence to discuss easing tensions between Tehran and Washington as the new Trump administration was preparing to take power.