Freed US reporter leaves Iran

US-born reporter Roxana Saberi, who was freed from an Iranian jail this week, left the Islamic republic on Friday for an unknown destination.

Minutes before the plane carrying Roxana took off, Payam Mohebi, a family friend of Roxana said that she and her parents were travelling with him on board a flight from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport.

"I am switching off my mobile phone now," Mohebi said as the plane prepared to take off.

He did not say where exactly they were heading from Iran, but soon after her release her father, Reza Saberi, said the family was preparing to take Roxana back to the United States.

There are no direct flights between Iran and the United States. Mohebi said Roxana was "doing well and very happy".

"At the moment, she has no clear plan yet whether to come back to the country (Iran) or not," he said.

Saberi was released on Monday after her original eight-year jail term, delivered on charges of spying for the United States, was reduced to a suspended two-year term by an appeal court.

The Iranian judiciary has said her two-year sentence would be suspended for five years.