An ongoing diplomatic row between Italy and Iran is serving to highlight international fault lines, as well as the degree to which Italian PM Gorgia Meloni’s original geopolitical ambitions have floundered.
Italy has called on Iran to facilitate the swift release of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran, escalating public and political attention to the case. Cecilia Sala, a correspondent for the newspaper Il Foglio, was taken into custody in Tehran on December 19, just six days after arriving on a press visa. Iranian authorities confirmed through the state-run IRNA news outlet that Sala was arrested for allegedly breaking Iranian law.
Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Iranian ambassador, Mohammad Reza Sabouri, to demand her immediate release. The ministry also called for “humane detention conditions that fully respect human rights,” including granting her consular access and visitation rights.
The Democratic Party, Italy’s main opposition, also called for Sala’s release. Citing reports in Italian media, they highlighted a phone call between Sala and her family, during which she mentioned sleeping on the floor and not receiving a second package of personal belongings from the Italian embassy. Sala’s situation has dominated news coverage in Italy for days and was even addressed in President Sergio Mattarella’s year-end speech to the nation.
The case has grown more complex with indications that Sala’s detention may be connected to the arrest of an Iranian man in Italy just three days prior. On December 16, Mohammad Abedini-Najafabad was apprehended at Milan’s Malpensa airport based on a U.S. request. Abedini is accused of involvement in a January 2024 drone strike in Jordan that killed three U.S. soldiers.
U.S. prosecutors have charged Abedini and a co-conspirator with violating export control laws. The charges followed FBI forensic analysis of the drone’s navigation system, which allegedly linked the device to the suspects.
The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on whether there is a connection between Sala’s arrest and the drone case.
In Italy, Abedini’s attorney, Alfredo De Francesco, has requested house arrest for his client, though the court’s decision is still pending. De Francesco did not address questions about the U.S. allegations or the possibility of a link between Abedini’s case and Sala’s detention.
Italian media have speculated that Sala is being held as leverage to secure Abedini’s release. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani did not refute such claims when asked about them during a televised appearance on Rete4 on Sunday.
The conflict is an interesting one: superficially, the use of journalists in political conflict highlight the breakdown of the “rules based” international order, albeit it may be questioned the degree to which such an order ever genuinely prevailed.
More specifically, however, if an Italian journalist is being detained as part of a wider quid pro quo between Iran and the U.S., this emphasizes the degree to which Europe and Western media are perceived as vassals of Washington.
Beyond even this, it provides yet another sign that a pillar of PM Meloni’s original program has indeed fallen through. Meloni once presented herself as aspiring to relative geopolitical independence (for example in terms of her Mattei Plan and the ambition to build a new diplomatic architecture for Italy, drawing closer to African and Near Eastern states and competing with France for influence across the Mediterranean)
This would have required maintaining a certain equidistance between Brussels and Washington, on the one hand, and Russia, Iran or China on the other. The current diplomatic spat highlights that Italy has indeed failed to strike that balance.
