US says UK free to pay debt in Nazanin case
Secretary of state lifts key barrier to Britain repaying debt in return for release of dual national prisoners
The United States would not oppose Britain paying off a decades-old debt to Iran to bring home Nazanin Zaghariratcliffe, the US secretary of state said yesterday. Anthony Blinken said the choice to pay the £400 million debt was a “sovereign decision”. Mr Blinken’s remarks will be seen as encouraging because one stumbling block to settling the debt is believed to be US sanctions against Iran. Mr Blinken also said the US was seeking to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
THE United States would not oppose Britain paying off a decades-old debt it owes to Iran to bring home jailed dual nationals including Nazanin Zaghariratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, the US secretary of state said.
Anthony Blinken said yesterday that the choice to pay the £400 million debt was a “sovereign decision for the United Kingdom” in remarks that apparently lift a key barrier to any agreement to bring the prisoners home.
Speaking on the Today programme on Radio 4, Mr Blinken said he would not comment on the details of the case, but emphasised that the US was seeking to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that Donald Trump quit in 2018.
“We’ve been engaged in Vienna for some weeks with our European partners, Russia and China, and indirectly with Iran,” he said.
“We’ve demonstrated our seriousness of purpose in terms of wanting to get back into the so-called JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] … What we don’t yet know is whether Iran is prepared to make the same decision and move forward.”
British-iranian dual nationals jailed in Iran include Mrs Zaghari-ratcliffe, a charity worker from north London, Mr Ashoori, a London-based businessman, and Morad Tahbaz, the co-founder of the Persian Wildlife Heritage foundation, who also holds US citizenship.
All have faced opaque charges of espionage or contact with foreign governments, which they deny.
The families of Mrs Zaghari-ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori say that they are innocent and being held as political hostages to force the UK to pay the debt, which dates from an unfulfilled Seventies arms deal and which Britain has acknowledged in court that it owes.
Mr Blinken’s remarks will be seen as encouraging because one stumbling block to settling the debt is believed to be US sanctions against Iran, which have deterred many international banks from facilitating trade there.
On Sunday, Iranian state media cited an anonymous official source saying that a deal to release the prisoners in exchange for payment of the debt, alongside a similar deal with the US to release Americans in exchange for unfreezing of Iranian assets, was close.
The report was later denied by the Britain, the US and the Iranian foreign ministry.
Iran and Britain have never officially admitted a direct link between the debt and the charges against the British dual nationals, but relatives say it has been made clear to the prisoners themselves.
Mr Blinken was speaking after a three-day summit with fellow G7 leaders in London, and shortly before he flew on to Ukraine for talks with Presi
‘We don’t know whether Iran is prepared to move forward’
dent Volodymyr Zelenskiy, where he warned that the US may ramp up security assistance there in the aftermath of the Russian military build-up.
Last month, Moscow amassed 80,000 troops and military equipment along the Ukrainian border and in occupied Crimea in the strongest show of force since the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine broke out in 2014. Ukrainian officials have since been pushing for Washington to expand its military aid in the face of possible Russian aggression.
“We’ll continue to strengthen our security partnership and in-flux collaboration with you to make sure Ukraine can defend itself against aggression,”
Mr Blinken said, urging Russia to “cease reckless and aggressive actions.
He also said that although Russia had withdrawn some troops from the border, “significant forces remain there” and Russia appeared to be signalling that “it has the capacity on a fairly short notice to take aggressive action if it so chooses”.