A plane carrying Cecilia Sala, 29, landed at Rome’s Ciampino airport, where Premier Giorgia Meloni was on hand to welcome her alongside Sala's family.

An Italian journalist detained in Iran for three weeks was freed Wednesday and returned home, after her fate had become intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer arrested in Italy and wanted by the United States.

The Italian journalist Cecilia Sala landed in Rome Wednesday after three weeks of detention in Iran. Italian media say Sala’s arrest may have been part of an Iranian plan to negotiate the release of one of their citizens who was recently detained by Italian authorities on a U.

Iran wsa believed to have held Sala as a bargaining chip after an Iranian businessman was arrested in Italy on a U.S. warrant.

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who had been arrested and imprisoned in Iran, has been freed and is on a plane taking her back home, the office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement on Wednesday.

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.

An Italian journalist arrested and jailed in Iran since December has been freed and returned to Rome on Wednesday, even as a diplomatic spat between the two countries lingers over an Iranian held in Milan.