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.

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala has been detained in Tehran, Italy’s foreign ministry said in a statement Friday. She was in Iran on a reporting trip.

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was detained by Tehran police last Thursday while in Iran for a reporting assignment, the Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday. In a statement, the ministry said the Italian embassy and consulate in Tehran have been closely monitoring the situation.

The arrest comes as regimes increasingly resort to seizing Westerners for leverage.

Prominent Italian journalist and podcaster Cecilia Sala has been arrested in Iran and incarcerated in Tehran's infamous Evin prison.

Italy is working “tirelessly” to bring home a journalist who has been under arrest in Iran for more than a week, the country said on Friday.

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has pledged to free Italian journalist, Cecilia Sala, who was detained in Iran.

Efforts to release Italian journalist Cecilia Sala from prison in Iran are "complicated," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Saturday. Sala was detained on December 19 by police in Tehran and is being held in the city's notorious Evin prison,