Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday that he had tasked the secretary general of the Italian foreign ministry to summon the Iranian ambassador to Rome and that the meeting is scheduled to take place at midday.

Iran confirmed the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala for "violating the laws of the Islamic Republic", Iran's official IRNA news agency reported on Monday. Sala, 29, who works for the newspaper Il Foglio and the podcast company Chora Media,

ROME (AP) — Italy summoned Iran’s ambassador on Thursday to demand the immediate release of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran, as the government and opposition ramped up public pressure on the politically sensitive case.

Italy’s Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, has summoned the Iranian ambassador to Rome over the detention of an Italian journalist held in isolation since her arrest in Tehran two weeks ago. In a post on his official X handle on Thursday,

Iran confirmed the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, state news agency IRNA said citing the Iranian Ministry of Culture.

The case of Cecilia Sala, who is detained in Iran, is a test for Italy’s government as it gets caught up in Tehran’s shadow war with the U.S.

The fate of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran and an Iranian engineer imprisoned in Italy on a U.S. warrant grew even more intertwined Friday as the Iranian awaits possible extradition to the United States to face charges he provided drone technology to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard corps.