(Reuters) – Iranian media reported on Saturday that Iran had summoned the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, who represents US interests in the country, and a senior Italian diplomat due to the US arrest of two Iranian citizens this week.
US prosecutors charged the two men on Monday with illegally exporting sensitive technology to Iran that they said was used in a January drone attack in Jordan that killed three US soldiers. The United States accused Iranian-backed militants of being behind the attack. Iran said at the time it was not involved.
Federal prosecutors in Boston identified the two men as Mohammad Abedini, co-founder of an Iran-based company, and Mehdi Sadeghi, an employee of a Massachusetts-based semiconductor manufacturing company. Analog devices (Nasdaq:).
Abedini, who resides in Switzerland and Iran, was arrested in Italy at the request of the US government. Sadeghi, an Iranian-born naturalized American citizen, lives in Natick, Massachusetts.
Iranian media quoted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying, “We consider these arrests to be a violation of international law,” adding that the Swiss ambassador and the Italian charge d’affaires had been asked to submit Iran’s protest.
(dubai.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; Editing by Francis (BCBA:) Kerry)
