Tesla and X owner Elon Musk played a key role in securing the release of Cecilia Sala, the Italian journalist who was arrested in Iran last month, according to reports.

Musk used a personal connection to Iran’s ambassador to the UN to facilitate the release of Sala, 29, who was arrested last month while reporting in Tehran and held in solitary confinement in Evin prison, the New York Times (NYT) reported on Thursday.

Just four days after Sala’s release, Italy released an Iranian citizen who had been detained in Milan last month on a US extradition request. Mohammad Abedini, a businessman and engineer, is wanted by the US over accusations of having procured drone technology for Iran for an attack in Jordan that killed three Americans a year ago.

The fact that Abedini’s release followed Sala’s freedom so swiftly led many observers to believe that a prisoner exchange was carried out between the two countries.

A member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the two Iranian officials told the NYT that Sala had been arrested in a calculated move to pressure Italy for Abedini’s release.

Musk helped secure Sala’s release by contacting Amir Saeid Iravani — Iran’s ambassador to the UN — with whom he had held a secret meeting in November, two Iranian officials told the NYT on condition of anonymity.

The two Iranian officials told the NYT that when Musk spoke with the ambassador, he requested that Iran release Sala and reassured him that the US would not pressure Italy to extradite Abedini, the Iranian engineer.

The tech mogul reportedly decided to intervene after receiving a message at the end of December from Sala’s boyfriend, Daniele Raineri, through an intermediary.

Raineri told the NYT he had thought of Musk because he had read that the billionaire had a channel of communication with Iranian diplomats, and because he works closely with US President-elect Donald Trump.

Musk helped to set up a meeting between Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on 4 January. Four days later, Sala was freed.

Meloni said last week that the journalist’s release was the result of a “complex work of diplomatic triangulation with Iran, and obviously also with the United States of America”. She told a news conference she did not know what role Musk had played in the release.

Biden administration officials said they had not been involved in the negotiations, and disapproved of the agreement.