The head of the Italian government spent five hours on Saturday January 4 with President-elect Donald Trump, whose ally she would like to become in Europe. The two leaders mainly spoke about Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist detained in Iran for having “ violates the laws of the Islamic Republic “.
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With our correspondent in Rome, Anne Le Nir
Even the head of Italian diplomacy, Antonio Tajani, very close to Giorgia Meloniwas not informed of his trip to Florida. This shows how much the President of the Council of Ministers did not want to reveal anything, in advance, about her meeting with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
The question at the heart of his visit concerned Cecilia Sala. The 29-year-old journalist was arrested on the orders of the Tehran regime on December 19. His detention, in inhumane conditions at Evin prison, would be used as leverage to obtain, in exchange for his release, that of Mohammad Abedini, a 38-year-old Iranian arrested and imprisoned on December 16 in Milan, at the request of the UNITED STATES. Washington accuses him “ to export sophisticated electronic components to Iran », in violation of American sanctions against Iran. Rome’s number one objective is to convince the American authorities to drop their request for extradition of this engineer.
On her return, Giorgia Meloni contented herself with this message on X: “ A great evening with Donald Trump. We are ready to work together. » No doubt to avoid further offending the outgoing President of the United States, Joe Biden is expected in Rome on January 9. He must spend three days in Italy, where meetings with the head of government and the Pope Francis are planned.