• Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was detained in Iran for three weeks, was released on Wednesday, Italian officials said.
• Italian commentators speculated that Iran arrested Sala as a bargaining chip to ensure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a U.S. warrant.
• The U.S. Justice Department accused Abedini and another Iranian of supplying Iran with the drone technology used in a January 2024 attack that killed three American troops in Jordan. He remains in detention in Italy.

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

A plane carrying Cecilia Sala, 29, left Tehran after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels,” Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office said, adding that the Italian premier had personally 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.

WHO IS GIORGIA MELONI? TRUMP HOSTS ITALIAN PM AT MAR-A-LAGO

Sala, a 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.

Italian commentators had speculated that Iran detained and held 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.

The U.S. Justice Department accused Abedini and another Iranian of supplying the 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.

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.

IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM IS NEARING ‘THE POINT OF NO RETURN,’ FRANCE’S MACRON SAYS

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.”

Sala’s fate became intertwined with that of Abedini as each country’s foreign ministries summoned the other’s ambassador to demand the prisoners’ release and decent detention conditions. The diplomatic tangle was particularly complicated for Italy, which is a historic ally of Washington but maintains traditionally good relations with Tehran.

Elisabetta Vernoni, mother of Cecilia Sala, leaves Palazzo Chigi after meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Jan. 2, 2025. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)

Members of Meloni’s cabinet took personal interest in the case given the geopolitical implications. Foreign Minister Antonio Tanaji and Defense Minister Guido Crosetto hailed the diplomatic teamwork involved in securing Sala’s release, which amounted to a significant victory for Meloni.

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. Roxana Saberi, an American journalist, was detained by Iran in 2009 for around 100 days before being released.

Also detained by Iran was Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who was held for more than 540 days before being released in 2016 in a prisoner swap between Iran and the U.S.

Both cases involved Iran making false espionage accusations in closed-door hearings.

Several politicians in Germany have pushed back against US President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that NATO’s European members should spend 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence, more than double the current target.

On Tuesday evening, Trump said that NATO nations were spending too little on defence and complained that “Europe is in for a tiny fraction of the money that we’re in”.

“They can all afford it, but they should be at 5% not 2%,” Trump told reporters at a press conference in Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

None of the alliance’s 32 members are currently spending 5% of GDP on defence, according to NATO data. Poland is the biggest spender by share of GDP at 4.12%, followed by Estonia at 3.43% and the US at 3.38%.

Ralf Stegner, a member of Germany’s Social Democrat Party (SPD) party, called Trump’s comments “delusional and absolutely insane” in a post on Facebook.

“We don’t need more weapons in the world, but fewer,” Stegner told Politico.

Marcus Faber, chairman of the defence committee in Germany’s parliament, agreed that 5% was too high. Faber said that NATO countries would have to agree on a new goal beyond 2%, but stated that the target should be 3% and decided by consensus.

Free Democratic Party (FDP) politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmerman said: “We are not at a bazaar here.”

“Trump, who sees himself as a dealmaker, naturally also hopes that the increased financial commitment of the European partners will benefit US industry in particular. But please don’t make up a number out of thin air,” Strack-Zimmerman said.

Trump’s latest call for NATO members to increase their defence spending is nothing new. During his first presidency, he repeatedly threatened to pull out of the military alliance if European allies failed to boost their spending.

The EU’s NATO members have increased their defence spending in recent years, largely as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

NATO estimated that 23 (including 16 from the EU) of its 32 members would meet its goal of spending 2% of GDP in 2024, up from just six countries in 2021. Italy, Belgium, and Spain are among those who are yet to reach the 2% threshold.

Germany will hit the 2% target for the first time this year, after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised a complete overhaul of the country’s military in 2022, breaking years of taboo against the country investing heavily in its military.

Despite this, officials and reports have repeatedly suggested that Germany’s military is unfit for purpose. An annual report released by parliament in March 2024 found that the Bundeswehr was “aged and shrinking” and severely lacked equipment and personnel.

The general consensus in Germany’s political establishment is that the nation should either maintain or increase its military spending — with several parties promoting a spending boost as part of their campaigns for the upcoming election set for 23 February.

ADVERTISEMENT

Green party chancellor candidate Robert Habeck told Spiegel magazine that Germany should aim for 3.5% in upcoming years.

“Geopolitically, it is foreseeable that we – Germany and Europe – will have to take more responsibility for our security, anything else would be naïve in view of the positioning of the USA,” Habeck said.

Friedrich Merz, leader of Germany’s opposition Christian Democrat Union (CDU) and the man tipped to succeed Scholz as chancellor, on Wednesday said the country would spend more on defence but he would not be drawn on a specific spending target.

“The 2, 3 or 5% (targets) are basically irrelevant, the decisive factor is that we do what is necessary to defend ourselves,” Merz told broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk.

ADVERTISEMENT

NATO’s new chief, Mark Rutte, has warned that the 2% target is insufficient, and said in December that citizens of NATO member states should accept “sacrifices” including cuts to their pensions, health and security systems in order to boost military spending in Europe.