Truss to call on Iran to release UK nationals held hostage by regime

Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori arrive home

Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori arrive home Image: Wikimedia

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will call for Iran to immediately release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Anoosheh Ashoori, Morad Tahbaz and all UK nationals “unjustly trapped” in Iran.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will meet a number of her international counterparts for the first time at the United Nations General Assembly in New York today, including Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian.

The Foreign Secretary will call for Iran to immediately release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Anoosheh Ashoori, Morad Tahbaz and all UK nationals “unjustly trapped” in Iran.

With the meeting coming within her first week in the role, Liz Truss will warn Tehran that a reset of bilateral relations between our countries should be a shared interest, but Iran’s continuing nuclear non-compliance and escalating nuclear programme is blocking important progress.

As the 2000th day of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s arbitrary detention approaches this week, she will ask the Iranian Foreign Minister to end her suffering, allowing her to return home to be reunited with her daughter and husband in the UK.

I will be asking Iran to ensure the immediate and permanent release of all arbitrarily detained British nationals in Iran, and to begin working with us to mend our fractured relations.

“The UK, US and our international partners are fully committed to a nuclear deal, but every day that Iran continues to delay talks whilst escalating its own nuclear programme means there is less space for diplomacy,” she added on September 20.

The Foreign Secretary will reiterate the US offer to lift sanctions in exchange for Iran returning to full compliance with its nuclear commitments. She will call on Iran to return to the Vienna talks over the nuclear deal (JCPoA), and once again return to compliance with its nuclear commitments, which is in the best interests of all parties.


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Deirdre Tynan

Deirdre Tynan is an award-winning journalist who enjoys bringing the best in news reporting to Spain’s largest English-language newspaper, Euro Weekly News. She has previously worked at The Mirror, Ireland on Sunday and for news agencies, media outlets and international organisations in America, Europe and Asia. A huge fan of British politics and newspapers, Deirdre is equally fascinated by the political scene in Madrid and Sevilla. She moved to Spain in 2018 and is based in Jaen.

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