US prosecutors argued on Tuesday that an engineer could flee to Iran if he was granted bail while awaiting trial on charges related to a deadly drone attack on a US military base in Jordan carried out last year by Iran-backed militants.
Federal prosecutors in Boston had three weeks ago told a judge they were open to allowing Mahdi Sadeghi to be released on bond while he awaited trial on charges that he engaged in a scheme to violate US export control and sanctions laws.
But prosecutors moved for Sadeghi's continued detention after the Italian government on Sunday released his co-defendant, Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini, and allowed him to return to Iran.
That occurred after Iran last week released an Italian journalist, Cecilia Sala, who was detained in Tehran three days after the men's arrests.