By Crispian Balmer ROME (Reuters) -Italian reporter Cecilia Sala has been freed after three weeks in an Iranian prison and is flying home, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office said on Wednesday. Sala,

An Italian journalist detained in Iran for three weeks was freed Wednesday and was heading 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 returned to Rome on Wednesday after weeks of diplomatic wrangling between Italy and Iran.

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. Reports said she had been held in solitary confinement in Tehran's notorious Evin prison.

The reporter for the Il Foglio daily was detained in Tehran on December 19, three days after she arrived on a journalist visa.

After more than three weeks of detention, Cecilia Sala has been released from Tehran's Evin Prison and was met at the airport in Rome by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, freed after three weeks in Iranian detention, returned to Rome, and greeted by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Her release, tied to a US-wanted Iranian engineer, marked a major political win for Meloni.

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, detained in Iran for three weeks, was freed on Wednesday and is on her way back to Italy.

Cecilia Sala was freed after what the Italian government called "intense" diplomatic work. Iran has been accused of arbitrarily detaining foreign nationals in order to gain leverage on other governments.