Foreign Ministers of Britain and Iran to Meet to Discuss ‘Detained British Citizens’ and ‘JCPOA’
Britain’s representation to the United Nations announced a schedule for Liz Truss, British Foreign Secretary, to meet with Hossein Amirabdollahian, her Iranian counterpart.
In a statement sent via email on Sunday evening, September 28 (Eastern American time) to Voice of America, it stated that the two foreign ministers will meet to discuss “British citizens detained in Iran” and the “nuclear agreement.” The meeting is scheduled to take place on Monday, September 29 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
According to the statement, Ms. Truss will pressure Iran during this meeting regarding ongoing consular matters, including “the arbitrary detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe,” and will ask Iran to allow her to return home to her daughter and husband in Britain as the 2,000th day of Ms. Zaghari’s detention approaches. She will also demand the immediate release of all British citizens “wrongfully” detained in Iran, including Anoosheh Ashoori and Morad Tahbaz.
Britain’s representation to the United Nations also stated in the statement that Ms. Truss, emphasizing that the resumption of bilateral relations between the two countries should have mutual benefits, will refer to “continued non-compliance with nuclear commitments and the escalation of Iran’s nuclear program” as existing obstacles to important progress.
The statement adds that the British Foreign Secretary will ask Iran to “return to the negotiating table before it is too late” and resume its full commitment to its nuclear obligations under the JCPOA.
Richard Ratcliffe, husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, told BBC World Service on Sunday morning, September 28, that he spoke with Liz Trass, Britain’s new Foreign Secretary, about his wife’s case and has asked her to take action to counter the “hostage-taking” by the Iranian government, which he says has cost the Islamic Republic nothing.
The “Free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe” campaign, as the 2,000th day of her detention approaches on the coming Thursday, has called for 10 Iranian officials, who have primarily played direct roles in hostage-takings following Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1357 (1978), to be immediately sanctioned.
Currently, in addition to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Morad Tahbaz, and Anoosheh Ashoori, several other dual and multiple nationals, including Emad Sharqi, Siamak Namazi and his father Baquer Namazi (Iranian-American citizens), Ahmad Reza Jalali (Iranian-Swedish researcher), Masoud Mossaheb (Austrian-German citizen), Kamran Ghaderi (Iranian-Austrian citizen), Mehrdad Raouf (Iranian-British citizen), and Nahid Taghvai (Iranian-origin German citizen), are imprisoned in Iran.
Source: Voice of America
