When an Italian journalist was arrested in Iran in December, her boyfriend again house feared she may linger in jail for years. So, amid speak that Iran and Italy had been negotiating a prisoner swap that concerned america, he says, he determined to attempt to get a message to somebody who is likely to be able to assist.
His title was Elon Musk.
Not solely was Mr. Musk near President-elect Donald J. Trump, a month earlier than the journalist was detained, the tech billionaire had a secret meeting with the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations.
Final week, the journalist, Cecilia Sala, 29, was released from prison in Iran, and days later an Iranian engineer whom Italy had detained on an American extradition request was also freed. The engineer was accused of offering materials for drones utilized in an Iranian-backed militia assault on a U.S. navy base that killed three American servicemen.
Mr. Musk helped safe the discharge of Ms. Sala by reaching out to Iran’s ambassador to the U.N., Amir Saeid Iravani, in line with two Iranian officers, one a senior diplomat on the Overseas Ministry, who’re each accustomed to the phrases of the prisoner trade. They requested that their names not be printed as a result of they had been discussing a delicate challenge.
Neither Mr. Musk nor representatives of the Trump transition responded to repeated requests for remark.
How Mr. Musk, an more and more lively if uncredentialed participant on the world stage for the reason that Trump victory, got here to take up the journalist’s trigger stays unclear. He’s shut with Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who traveled to Mar-a-Lago, the Trump property in Florida the place Mr. Musk has been a daily, and met with the president-elect on Jan 4.
Ms. Meloni mentioned at a information convention final week that Ms. Sala’s release was the results of a “complicated work of diplomatic triangulation with Iran, and clearly additionally with america of America.” Her workplace and the Italian Overseas Ministry declined to remark for this text.
A senior Biden administration official mentioned the American authorities had not been consulted concerning the negotiations, had not been given advance phrase concerning the releases, and disapproved of the deal. John Kirby, the spokesman for the Nationwide Safety Council, mentioned that the deal had been “an Italian resolution from soup to nuts.”
On the information convention, Ms. Meloni mentioned she didn’t know what half if any Mr. Musk had performed in Ms. Sala’s launch. “If he had a task, I’m not conscious of it,” she mentioned.
The paradox highlights the weird position Mr. Musk has been taking part in as he sits at Mr. Trump’s aspect, backing far-right parties in Europe at the same time as he continues to advertise his enterprise pursuits overseas. Italy, for instance, is at the moment exploring a possible cope with Mr. Musk’s SpaceX to offer safe communications for presidency and navy officers via Starlink. And Ms. Meloni has been certainly one of Mr. Musk’s ever-present European allies, internet hosting him at her get together’s convention in 2023 and attending a gala with him final October.
By the point of Ms. Meloni’s journey to Mar-a-Lago, Ms. Sala’s boyfriend, Daniele Raineri, had already sought out Mr. Musk’s assist via an middleman, he mentioned. In an interview, Mr. Raineri mentioned that he had considered him as a result of he had learn that there was “a channel between Musk and the Iranian diplomats, and that Musk additionally works in shut contact with Trump.”
Mr. Raineri, who can also be a journalist, mentioned he fired off a message on Dec. 29 to an Italian laptop knowledgeable and affiliate of Mr. Musk’s to ask if he might convey Ms. Sala’s case to the billionaire’s consideration and search his assist.
The pc knowledgeable, Andrea Stroppa, mentioned in an interview that Mr. Musk had acknowledged the request, however that he didn’t know whether or not he had turn into concerned within the case.
In November, weeks earlier than Ms. Sala was arrested, Mr. Musk met for greater than an hour with the Iranian ambassador on the Iranian’s residence in Manhattan to debate defusing tensions between Tehran and Washington as a brand new administration ready to take energy.
The Iranian officers interviewed for this text mentioned that Mr. Musk contacted the ambassador once more shortly after Prime Minister Meloni visited Mar-a-Lago.
The prisoner trade between Iran and Italy then unfolded quickly. Iran launched Ms. Sala on Jan. 8, and 4 days later, Italy freed the Iranian engineer, Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi.
Mr. Abedini had been detained on the request of the U.S. Justice Division. A federal courtroom in Massachusetts accused him of procuring drone know-how for Iran that was utilized in the attack on the American base, which was in Jordan, in January 2024. The 2 Iranian officers mentioned that when Mr. Musk spoke with the ambassador, he requested that Iran launch Ms. Sala and reassured him that america wouldn’t strain Italy to extradite the Iranian engineer.
Iran’s mission to the U.N. declined to touch upon the latest engagement between Mr. Musk and the ambassador. In an announcement, it mentioned the 2 detainees had been launched because of “bilateral cooperation and coordinated efforts of the political and intelligence sectors of Iran and Italy.”
All sides are being circumspect in public about what transpired, however to many observers the speedy launch of the prisoners following the assembly between Mr. Trump and Ms. Meloni prompt that the subject had been mentioned and a decision was reached.
“The most certainly reconstruction is that she bought a sign of understanding from Trump that the incoming administration wouldn’t increase large issues if it launched Abedini,” mentioned Ferdinando Nelli Feroci, a former Italian diplomat.
Italy detained Mr. Abedini in mid-December as he was transiting via Milan’s airport. Three days later, brokers from the intelligence wing of the Revolutionary Guard raided Ms. Sala’s lodge room in Tehran and threw her into solitary confinement at Evin jail. She had traveled to Iran on a journalist visa.
A member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and the 2 Iranian officers mentioned the journalist had been arrested to strain Italy to launch Mr. Abedini. Iran has made the detention of foreign and dual nationals a centerpiece of its international coverage for practically 5 a long time.
“It doesn’t matter who you’re,” Shahin Modarres, a Rome-based knowledgeable on Iran and worldwide safety, mentioned in a phone interview. “You generally is a journalist, a diplomat, a vacationer.” He mentioned, “What issues is that if Iran thinks it may possibly use you as leverage.”
Ms. Sala mentioned in an interview that she had been held in a cell with no mattress and had slept on the ground with one blanket on prime and one other beneath. For weeks, she was denied her glasses, and all through her detention she didn’t see a human face. She might hear the sound of different inmates crying and vomiting, she mentioned, and was blindfolded and interrogated for hours practically daily, she mentioned.
What she feared probably the most, she mentioned, was “that I might go insane.”
Mr. Raineri, her boyfriend, mentioned that on Jan. 2, Ms. Meloni instructed Ms. Sala’s mom that throughout the subsequent 48 hours there can be an essential growth.
Mr. Stroppa, the programmer, dropped hints on his account on X. He posted a portrayal of Mr. Trump, Ms. Meloni and Mr. Musk in historical Roman apparel on the day the prime minister visited Mar-a-Lago. And on the day Ms. Sala was launched, he posted an AI-generated photo of Mr. Musk eating spaghetti with an Italian flag emoji.
Ms. Sala mentioned she understood that Italy’s authorities did what it needed to do to free her. “And whoever it was they wanted to speak to, they talked to,” she mentioned.
Ryan Mac and Mattathias Schwartz contributed reporting.
