Deputy FM raps US for holding Iranians hostage

In a post on his X account, Vahid Jalalzadeh deplored the arrest of two Iranian citizens in the US and Italy for alleged connection with a drone attack that killed three US soldiers in Jordan in January.

“The unilateral and cruel US sanctions and every measure caused by those illegal sanctions, such as taking Iranians hostage on various pretexts like circumventing the unlawful and illegitimate sanctions, are condemned and run counter to the international law,” the Iranian foreign minister’s deputy for consular, parliamentary, and Iranian expatriates’ affairs said.

Jalalzadeh stated that the Foreign Ministry is duty-bound to protect the rights of Iranians worldwide.

The US federal prosecutors in Boston on December 16 charged 38-year-old Mohammad Abedini, the co-founder of an Iranian-based company, and Mahdi Sadeqi, 42, an employee of Massachusetts-based semiconductor manufacturer Analog Devices, with conspiring to violate US export laws.

Abedini, a dual citizen of Switzerland and Iran, was arrested in Milan, Italy, at the request of the US government, which will seek his extradition. Sadeqi, an Iranian-born naturalized US citizen, who lives in Natick, Massachusetts, was also arrested.

The two Iranians have been arrested and charged by the US authorities with allegedly exporting sensitive technology that was used in a drone attack that killed three US soldiers and wounded 47 others at a US military outpost in Jordan, near the Syrian border, in January.