Musk said he intervened to help free the Italians imprisoned in Iran

When an Italian journalist was arrested in Iran in December, his girlfriend at home feared he could face years in prison. So, amid talks between Iran and Italy about a prisoner exchange involving the United States, he said, he decided to try to get a message to someone who might be able to help.

His name is Elon Musk.

Not only is Mr. Trump close to President-elect Donald J. Trump. Musk, a month before the journalist was detained, the tech billionaire held a secret meeting with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Last week, journalist Cecilia Sala, 29, was released from prison in Iran, and a few days later an Iranian engineer who was being held by Italy on a US extradition request was also released. The engineer is accused of supplying equipment to the drones used in an Iranian-backed militia attack on a US military base that killed three US soldiers.

Helped to secure the release of Ms. Mr. Musk made the mistake of reaching out to Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, according to two Iranian officials, one a senior diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who both know the conditions of the prisoners. exchange. They asked that their names not be published because they are discussing sensitive matters.

Neither Mr. Musk nor Trump’s transition representatives responded to repeated requests for comment.

It remains unclear how Mr. Musk, a more active if uncredited player on the world stage since Trump’s victory, has become. He is close to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who traveled to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Musk’s home in Florida, and met with the president-elect on Jan. 4.

Ms. Meloni said at a press conference last week that Ms. Sala’s release was the result of “the difficult work of diplomatic triangulation with Iran, and of course also with the United States.” His office and the Italian Foreign Ministry declined to comment for this article.

Senior officials in the Biden administration said the US government was not consulted on the negotiations, was not given advance notice of the release, and did not approve the deal. John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the deal was “an Italian decision from soup to nuts”.

During a press conference, Ms Meloni said she did not know what role Mr Musk played in Ms Sala’s release. “If he has a role, I don’t know about it,” he said.

The obscurity highlights the unusual role played by Mr. Musk while sitting next to Mr. He is Trump, supporting far-right parties in Europe even as he continues to promote his business interests abroad. Italy, for example, is exploring a possible deal with Space X’s Mr. Musk to provide secure communications for government officials and the military through Starlink. And Mrs. Meloni is one of the companions of Mr. Ever European, Musk hosted him at his party’s 2023 conference and attended a gala with him last October.

By the time Ms. Meloni went to Mar-a-Lago, Ms. Sala’s boyfriend, Daniele Raineri, had sought Mr. Musk’s help through an intermediary. In an interview, Mr. Raineri said he thought of him because he had read that there was “a channel between Musk and Iranian diplomats, and Musk also works in close contact with Trump.”

Mr. Raineri, who is also a journalist, said he sent a message on Dec. 29 to an Italian computer expert and colleague of Mr. Musk asked if he could bring Ms. Sala’s case to the attention of the billionaire and seek his help.

Computer expert Andrea Stroppa said in an interview that Mr. The request was Musk, but he did not know if he was involved in the matter.

In November, a week before Ms. Sala was arrested, Mr. Musk met for more than an hour with the Iranian ambassador at the Iranian residence in Manhattan to discuss easing tensions between Tehran and Washington as the new government prepared to take power.

Iranian officials interviewed for this article said Mr. Musk contacted the ambassador shortly after Prime Minister Meloni visited Mar-a-Lago.

The exchange of prisoners between Iran and Italy developed rapidly. Iran released Ms. Sala on January 8, and four days later, Italy released Iranian engineer Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi.

Abedini was detained at the request of the US Department of Justice. A federal court in Massachusetts accused him of buying drone technology for Iran that was used in an attack on a US base in Jordan in January 2024. Two Iranian officials said that when they spoke to the agency Mr. Musk asked. but Iran freed Ms. Sala and assured her that the United States would not force Italy to extradite the Iranian engineer.

Iran’s UN envoy declined to comment on recent negotiations between Mr Musk and the agency. In a statement, he said the release of the two prisoners was the result of “bilateral cooperation and the coordinated efforts of the political and intelligence sectors of Iran and Italy.”

All sides are keeping a close eye on the incident, but for many observers, the swift release of the prisoners after the meeting between Mr Trump and Ms Meloni suggested the subject had been discussed and there was the solution.

“The most likely recovery is that he received an acknowledgment from Trump that the administration would not cause serious problems if Abedini were to be released,” said Ferdinando Nelli Feroci, a former Italian diplomat.

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Abedini was detained by Italia Abedini in mid-December as he passed through Milan airport. Three days later, Revolutionary Guard intelligence agents raided Mrs. Sala’s cell in Tehran and threw her into Evin prison. He went to Iran on a journalist visa.

A member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and two Iranian officials said the journalist was arrested to pressure Italy to release Abedini. Iran has made the detention of its foreign and dual nationals the centerpiece of its foreign policy for nearly five decades.

“It doesn’t matter who you are,” Shahin Modarres, an expert on Iran and international security in Rome, said in a telephone interview. “You can be a journalist, a diplomat, a tourist.” He said, “The important thing is if Iran thinks it can use you as a tool.”

Ms. Sala said in an interview that she kept a room without a mattress and slept on the floor with one blanket on top and another underneath. For several weeks, he was denied his glasses, and during his detention he was unable to see human faces. He heard other inmates crying and vomiting, he said, and was blindfolded and interrogated for hours almost every day, he said.

What he was most afraid of, he said, was that “I would go crazy.”

Mr. Raineri, her boyfriend, said that on January 2, Ms. Meloni told Ms. Sala’s mother that in the next 48 hours there would be a big development.

Mr. Stroppa, the programmer, commented on his account on X. He posted a picture of Mr. Trump, Ms. Meloni and Mr. Musk in ancient Roman garb on the day the prime minister visited Mar-a-Lago. And on the day Ms. Sala was released, she released an AI-generated image of Mr. Musk is eating spaghetti with an Italian flag emoji.

Ms. Sala said she understood that the Italian government had done what it had to do to free her. “And whoever needs to talk, talk to them,” he said.

Ryan Mc SY Mattathias Schwartz contributed to the report.