In a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, US President-elect Donald Trump agreed to delay the extradition of an Iranian detained in Milan amid an ongoing spat over Iran's recent detention of an Italian journalist. 

According to a report by Italian newspaper Il Giornale on Monday, after Meloni and Trump met on Saturday night at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, the incoming US president agreed to temporarily halt its efforts to see Iranian-Swiss citizen Mohammad Abedini Najafabi extradited to the United States. Il Giornale wrote that Trump agreed to a "moratorium" on the process, covered by an extradition treaty dating back to 1983.

Abedini was arrested in Milan over illegal exports and dealings with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The halt would provide Italy room to maneuver as it tries to secure the return of Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist recently detained in Iran. She was accused by the Islamic Republic of violating Iranian law, though no details of the alleged violations have been provided. 

The meeting was attended by a number of Trump’s cabinet picks: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, national security adviser Mike Walz and Trump's pick for ambassador to Rome, Tilman Fertittal, as well as the current Italian ambassador to Washington, Mariangela Zappia. Meloni is set to meet current US President Joe Biden when he is in Rome from Jan. 9 to Jan. 12.