Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband urges government to be ‘tougher’ with Iran

The husband of a British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran is urging the government to “push forward on improving relations” with Iran to secure her release after talks with Boris Johnson.

Richard Ratcliffe said there has been “no breakthrough” after Yesterday’s meeting with prime minister.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained for almost four years in a prison of Tehran, over spying allegations she denies.

Mr Johnson has been persistently criticised for wrongly claiming, when he was foreign secretary, that she was training journalists at the time of her arrest.

Mina Joshaghani is a BBC Persian journalist and gave some details on the story:

“In the case of Nazanin Zaghari it seems like she is a pawn, for a financial dispute between Iran and Britian that has been going on for forty years.

“Iran had paid £400m for a shipment of tanks that was never fully delivered after the regime change following the 1979 Islamic revolution.”

If the Court of Appeal in London is preparing to hear a case that could resolve the financial dispute, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said the UK will take “every opportunity” to raise her case with the Iranian government.

“It is worth mentioning that Iran is particularly sensitive to its nationals working for foreign media which is no surprise as the media in Iran are strongly restricted by an oppressive state.

“But this particularly put the dual nationals in a dangerous situation. Iranian intelligence bodies and even the police have shown tendencies or a pattern to harass dual nationals and keep them as hostages,” she added.

Mr Johnson is said to be “personally committed” to Nazanin’s case, whom continued detention was described as “inhumaine and unacceptable”, hoping that the recent escalation in tension won’t affect her.

BBC Persian‘s Mina Joshaghani concluded: “Now everybody is waiting for the ruling of this court and see if there is going to be a possible opening in the future in the case of Nazanin or other Iranian-British dual nationals that are charged with different suspicions such as espionage and attempt to overthrow the state.”

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