The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
UK downplays chances of charity worker’s release
UK officials have downplayed the prospect of Nazanin Zaghariratcliffe’s imminent release from Iran, after state TV suggested Britain would pay a £400 million debt to secure her release.
Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of the Britishiranian charity worker, said the family had not been updated, as hopes were raised by the suggestion the dispute had been resolved.
The Foreign Office said “legal discussions are ongoing” despite the claim made on Iranian state TV, which cited an anonymous official.
It was being said that the UK Government’s position had not changed over the weekend and that Iran had made the claim before without the mother of one being released.
Mr Ratcliffe, who has campaigned for the release of his wife after her detention in 2016, told the PA news agency: “We’ve heard nothing.”
Earlier in the day, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the debt “is not actually the thing that is holding us up”.
The dispute dates back to the 1970s when the then-shah of Iran paid the UK £400m for 1,500 Chieftain tanks.
Britain refused to deliver the tanks to the new Islamic Republic when the shah was toppled in 1979, but kept the cash despite British courts accepting it should be repaid.
Hopes were raised when Iranian state TV reported that the UK had agreed to pay the £400m to see the release of the 42-year-old.
The anonymous official was also quoted as saying a deal had been made between the US and Tehran for a prisoner swap in exchange for the release of $7 billion (£5bn) of frozen Iranian funds, but Washington did not immediately acknowledge any deal.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We continue to explore options to resolve this 40-year-old case and will not comment further as legal discussions are ongoing.”
Speaking to the BBC yesterday, Mr Raab said the debt was not the issue
“Debt is not actually the thing that is holding us up
holding up Mrs Zaghariratcliffe’s release.
He cited elections in Iran as being key, as well as the Iran nuclear deal officially titled the Joint
Comprehensive Action (JCPOA).
“It’s the wider context as we come up to the Iranian presidential elections and the wider elections
Plan of
on the JCPOA which inevitably, from the Iranian perspective, the two are considered in tandem,” he told the Andrew Marr Show.