Detained Italian scribe expected to be held longer, is all praise for Musk’s role

Rome: An Italian journalist detained in Iran whose fate became intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States said she assumed she would have been held much longer, and said her boyfriend’s contact with Elon Musk might have been “fundamental” to her release.

In her first televised interview since her Jan 8 release, Cecilia Sala referred to the three-nation negotiation that resulted in her freedom after 21 days in detention.

Sala, a journalist with the Chora Media podcast platform and Il Foglio daily, said her boyfriend Daniele Ranieri had contacted Musk’s Italy representative, Andrea Stroppa

“You understand that it’s a case that concerns Iran, Italy, and the United States, so Elon Musk becomes a fundamental person,” Sala said on the Sunday talk show “Che Tempo Che Fa” (What the

Weather’s Like”).