Iran has summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, who represents US interests in the country, along with a senior Italian diplomat, to protest the recent arrest of two Iranian nationals by US authorities, Reuters reported on Saturday, citing Iranian media.
The arrests stem from charges filed on Monday by US prosecutors accusing the two men of illegally exporting sensitive technology to Iran.
The technology was allegedly linked to a January drone attack in Jordan that killed three US service members. While the US has blamed Iran-backed militia for the attack, Iran denied involvement at the time.
Federal prosecutors in Boston identified the two individuals as Mohammad Abedini, a co-founder of an Iran-based company, and Mahdi Sadeghi, an employee of the Massachusetts-based semiconductor manufacturer Analog Devices.
Abedini, who holds dual residency in Switzerland and Iran, was arrested in Italy at the request of the US government. Meanwhile, Sadeghi, an Iranian-born naturalized US citizen, resides in Natick, Massachusetts.
“We consider these arrests in violation of international law,” Iranian media quoted the foreign ministry as saying. The ministry added that both the Swiss ambassador and the Italian charge d'affaires were instructed to convey Iran’s formal protest to their respective governments.
The January 28 attack on the Tower 22 outpost near the Jordan-Syria border killed three US Army reservists: Sergeant William Jerome Rivers; Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders; and Specialist Breonna Alexsondria Moffett.
According to the prosecution, Abedini had used a company in Switzerland as a front to procure American technologies from Sadeghi's employer, Analog Devices, including accelerometers and gyroscopes that were then sent to Iran.
The Iranian-backed militias in Syria and Iraq have recently resumed their attacks on US military personnel, after announcing in February they would stop their attacks against US troops.
In August, eight US service members were injured in a drone attack on a base in Syria.