Sala’s release comes ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit to Italy this week — the last scheduled international trip of his presidency.
Meloni also raised the issue of Sala’s detention when she met with President-elect Donald Trump last Saturday in Florida, but in response to questions from journalists, Tajani suggested that the release was unrelated to that conversation.
“The Iranians themselves have made a distinction between the two things,” Tajani said.
The United States has been involved in prisoner deals with Iran in the past. In September 2023, Iran released five Americans who had been held in Iran for years. In exchange, the United States dismissed charges against five imprisoned Iranians and facilitated the unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian oil funds.
Jason Rezaian, then the Washington Post’s correspondent in Iran, was imprisoned for 544 days, until he was released in 2016.