Iran released Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, whose arrest in Tehran last month had sparked fears of a lengthy hostage crisis.

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala has been freed from an Iranian prison and is on a plane home, a spokesperson for the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said 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.

A plane carrying journalist Cecilia Sala has left Tehran and will soon arrive back in Italy, Italian authorities announced on Wednesday. Sala had been held in the Iranian capital's notorious Evin

Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist who had been arrested in Tehran and jailed for three weeks, was freed and sent back to Italy, according to a statement by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office.

The case of the prominent Italian journalist detained in Iran is a test for Italy’s government as it gets caught up in Iran’s shadow war with the U.S.

Italy has summoned Iran’s ambassador to demand the immediate release of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran.

ROME (Reuters) - 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 last month has been freed and is on a flight back to Rome, the Italian government says. Cecilia Sala, 29, was arrested on 19 December, three days after an Iranian engineer was detained by Italian authorities in Milan on suspicion of supplying drone technology that led to the deaths of US soldiers.