- Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who had been detained in Iran for three weeks, was released on Wednesday, Italian officials said.
- Italian commentators have speculated that Iran arrested Sala as a trump card to secure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a US warrant.
- The US Justice Department charged Abedini and another Iranian with supplying Iran with the drone technology used in a January 2024 attack that killed three US soldiers in Jordan. He is still in custody in Italy.
An Italian journalist held in Iran for three weeks, whose fate intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States, was freed Wednesday and headed home, Italian officials said.
The plane carrying Cecilia Sala (29) left Tehran after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels”. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office he said, adding that the Italian Prime Minister had personally informed Sala’s parents about the news.
Iranian media confirmed the release of the journalists, citing only foreign reports. Iranian officials did not immediately comment.
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Sala, a reporter for Il Foglio daily, was arrested in Tehran on December 19, three days after she arrived on a journalist’s visa. She was accused of violating the laws of the Islamic Republic, the official news agency IRNA announced.
Italian commentators speculated that Iran had detained and held Sala as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who had been arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport three days earlier on December 16 on a US warrant.
US Department of Justice accused Abedini and another Iranian supplying Iran with the drone technology used in the January 2024 attack on a US outpost in Jordan that killed three US soldiers. He is still in custody in Italy.
Cecilia Sala is an Italian journalist who was arrested on December 19 while reporting in Iran, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced. (Chora Media via AP)
Sala’s release was greeted with cheers in Italy, where her condition dominated the headlines as lawmakers hailed successful negotiations to bring her home.
It came later Meloni made a surprise trip to Florida last weekend to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
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Meloni tweeted Sala’s return in a statement on X in which she thanked “all those who helped make Cecilia’s return possible, allowing her to hug her family and colleagues again.”
Sala’s fate became intertwined with Abedini’s as each country’s foreign ministry called on the other’s ambassador to demand the prisoner’s release and decent conditions of detention. It was especially complicated by diplomatic entanglements for Italywhich is a historical ally of Washington, but maintains traditionally good relations with Tehran.
Elisabetta Vernoni, mother of Cecilia Salo, leaves Palazzo Chigi after a meeting with Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni in Rome on January 2, 2025. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)
Members of Meloni’s cabinet took a personal interest in the case given its geopolitical implications. Foreign Minister Antonio Tanaji and Defense Minister Guido Crosetto hailed the diplomatic teamwork involved in securing Salina’s release, which represented a significant victory for Meloni.
Since the 1979 US embassy crisis, in which dozens of hostages were freed after 444 days of captivity, Iran used prisoners with western ties as trump cards in negotiations with the world.
In September 2023, five Americans who had been detained in Iran for years were released in exchange for five Iranians in American custody and $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.
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Western journalists have also been detained in the past. In 2009, Roxana Saberi, an American journalist, was detained by Iran for about 100 days before being released.
Also arrested by Iran was Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who was detained for more than 540 days before being released in 2016 in a prisoner swap between Iran and the US
In both cases, Iran made false accusations of espionage in closed-door hearings.
