News broke today that the American-Iranian journalist jailed for spying has been released from prison, her sentence adjusted to a two years suspended term.

Roxana Saberi had been working as a freelance journalist for the BBC and NPR, and had moved to the country in 2003. In January, she was arrested for buying a bottle of wine, and the International Herald Tribune says the charges grew from there.

She was next charged with working without a press card (which had expired in 2006), and finally with spying for the United States. Last month, she was convicted but Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked the prosecutor to take a second look at the case.

The International Herald Tribune article on the release quotes Saeed Leylaz, a political analyst in Tehran:

Maybe Iran wants to send a message to Washington with her release that we are powerful. Secondly, that we are flexible, and thirdly, that if we receive the right incentives, we will hold talks as well.

It might win Iran some chips at the table for the ongoing wrestling match over the country’s nuclear program.