Iran Confirms Arrest of Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala

People hold placards while attending a peaceful sit-in in front of the Prefecture to demand the immediate release of the Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Turin, Italy, 29 December 2024. EPA/JESSICA PASQUALON
People hold placards while attending a peaceful sit-in in front of the Prefecture to demand the immediate release of the Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Turin, Italy, 29 December 2024. EPA/JESSICA PASQUALON
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Iran Confirms Arrest of Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala

People hold placards while attending a peaceful sit-in in front of the Prefecture to demand the immediate release of the Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Turin, Italy, 29 December 2024. EPA/JESSICA PASQUALON
People hold placards while attending a peaceful sit-in in front of the Prefecture to demand the immediate release of the Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Turin, Italy, 29 December 2024. EPA/JESSICA PASQUALON

Iran's Ministry of Culture confirmed the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala for "violating the laws” of the country, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.
Cecilia Sala, 29, who works for the newspaper Il Foglio and the podcast company Chora Media, was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, according to the Italian foreign ministry.

The case of the Italian journalist is "complicated,” but Rome hopes to bring Sala home quickly, Italy's foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said on Saturday.

Tajani said he hoped the issue could be resolved quickly but added: "It doesn't depend on us."

"We're trying to solve an issue that's complicated," he was quoted as saying by the news agency ANSA.



Next Nuclear Talks between Iran and Three European Countries Due on Jan 13

FILE PHOTO: Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo
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Next Nuclear Talks between Iran and Three European Countries Due on Jan 13

FILE PHOTO: Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo

The next round of nuclear talks between Iran and three European countries will take place on Jan. 13 in Geneva, Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency cited the country's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as saying on Wednesday.
Iran held talks about its disputed nuclear program in November, 2024 with Britain, France and Germany.
Those discussions, the first since the US election, came after Tehran was angered by a European-backed resolution that accused Iran of poor cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Tehran reacted to the resolution by informing the IAEA watchdog that it plans to install more uranium-enriching centrifuges at its enrichment plants.
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters in December that Iran is "dramatically" accelerating its enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, closer to the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade. Tehran denies pursuing nuclear weapons and says its program is peaceful.
In 2018, the then administration of Donald Trump exited Iran's 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to violate the pact's nuclear limits, with moves such as rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up output.
Indirect talks between US President Joe Biden's administration and Tehran to try to revive the pact have failed, but Trump said during his election campaign in September: "We have to make a deal, because the consequences are impossible. We have to make a deal".