Johnson doing ‘all he can’ for Nazanin
Boris Johnson has said the UK was doing "everything we can" in the interests of Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe, as officials downplayed reports from Iran that said Britain would pay a £400 million debt to secure her release.
Iranian state TV claimed on Sunday that a deal had been struck over the longrunning dispute, which has been suggested as a reason for the Britishiranian charity worker's detention.
But UK officials have since downplayed the idea that payment of the debt would mean Mrs Zaghari-ratcliffe's imminent release, while the Prime Minister said yesterday they were "two entirely separate issues".
"We of course make sure that we do everything we can to look after the interests of Nazanin and all the very difficult dual national cases we have in Tehran," Mr Johnson said during a campaign visit to Hartlepool.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said reports that Britain would pay the debt were "not yet accurate".
He told a Downing Street press conference: "It's incumbent on Iran unconditionally to release those who are held arbitrarily and, in our view, unlawfully, and the reports I'm afraid are not yet accurate in terms of the suggestion of her (Ms Zaghari-ratcliffe's) imminent release."
The legal dispute dates back to the 1970s when the then-shah of Iran paid the UK £400 million 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.