Iran frees Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was held for three weeks with no explanation

Rome — An Italian journalist detained in Iran for three weeks and whose fate became intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States was freed Wednesday and is heading home, Italian officials announced.

A plane carrying Cecilia Sala took off from Tehran after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said, adding that Meloni had informed Sala’s parents of the news.

Iranian media acknowledged the journalist’s release, citing only the foreign reports. Iranian officials offered no immediate comment.

Sala, a 29-year-old reporter for the Il Foglio daily, was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, three days after she arrived on a journalist visa. She was accused of violating the laws of the Islamic Republic, the official IRNA news agency said, but no details of her purported transgressions were ever provided by Iranian officials.

Word of Sala’s release was met with cheers in Italy, where her plight had dominated headlines, as lawmakers hailed the successful negotiations to bring her home.

It came after Meloni made a surprise trip to Florida last weekend to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate. 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 reembrace her family and colleagues.”

Italian commentators had speculated that Iran was holding Sala as a bargaining chip to ensure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport three days before on Dec. 16, on a U.S. warrant. Iranian analysts who spoke with CBS News on the condition they remain anonymous said the same thing.

The U.S. Justice Department accused Abedini and another Iranian of supplying drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a U.S. outpost in Jordan that killed three American troops. He remains in detention in Italy.

Their fates turned into a diplomatic tangle as each country’s foreign ministries summoned the other’s ambassador to demand the prisoners’ release and decent conditions. The saga was particularly complicated for Italy, which is an historic ally of Washington, but traditionally maintains good relations with Tehran.

Since the 1979 U.S. Embassy crisis, which saw dozens of hostages released after 444 days in captivity, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations with the world.

In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in U.S. custody and for $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.

Western journalists have been held in the past as well. Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian was held for more than 540 days before being released in 2016 in a prisoner swap between Iran and the U.S.