Zarif: Nazanin Zaghari was supposed to be exchanged for £400 million

Iran’s foreign minister says Britain’s former foreign secretary proposed paying off the Chieftain tank debt in exchange for Nazanin Zaghari’s release. He announced he was ready to mediate for this, but Jeremy Hunt considered the matter “extortion.”

Iran’s foreign minister acknowledged discussions about exchanging Nazanin Zaghari for settling London’s debt to Tehran. Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York that he was supposed to mediate for the release of Nazanin Zaghari, an Iranian-British citizen, in exchange for settling London’s 40-year-old debt to Tehran.

Zarif said the proposal was first made by Philip Hammond, Britain’s former foreign secretary, but he left the Foreign Office shortly after in July 2016. The proposal had been for Britain to pay £400 million in debt owed to Iran, and Zarif would in turn work to secure Nazanin Zaghari—Ratcliffe’s—release from prison.

The £400 million debt owed by London to Tehran stems from a prepayment for the purchase of Chieftain tanks in 1976, which were never delivered due to the Iranian Revolution and the change of regime.

Zarif told reporters that the proposal was even raised when Boris Johnson became foreign secretary, but the matter fell through when Jeremy Hunt, the next foreign secretary, took office: “Jeremy said you want to extort money. I said no, I didn’t start this, Philip did.” Zarif continued that Jeremy Hunt did not pursue the matter because he wanted to become prime minister.

Zarif said that London’s payment of the debt to Tehran was not extortion and added that as foreign minister he had no role in judicial decisions regarding an Iranian citizen: “But I can intervene for a foreigner accused of espionage and propose an exchange to the court.”

Nazanin Zaghari, an employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at the airport in April 2016 while returning from a family visit and was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison on charges of attempting to “overthrow” the government and “espionage.” She holds dual citizenship but Iran does not recognize such status for an Iranian citizen.

Iran’s foreign minister said he recently raised this issue with Dominic Raab, Britain’s current foreign secretary, in a telephone conversation but to no avail.

Richard Ratcliffe, Nazanin Zaghari’s husband, who is currently in New York and intends to meet with Zarif, said: “In the three and a half years that Nazanin has been imprisoned, we have received much confidential information regarding my wife’s detention and the related debt. I am pleased that Iran’s foreign minister has spoken so frankly.”

Ratcliffe has now launched a campaign called “Union of Families Against State Hostage-Taking.”

The Guardian reports that Gavin Williamson, Britain’s defense secretary, strongly opposed the proposal and said that paying the £400 million debt to Iran, especially when the United States is trying to restrict the financial resources of the Revolutionary Guards, is not politically feasible.

British officials called Zarif’s comments about Jeremy Hunt “malicious” and denied the claim that he failed to arrange payment of Iran’s debt because of his ambition to become prime minister.

For the first time in November 2017, the British newspaper “Telegraph” reported, citing unnamed British government sources, that the British government would pay money for Nazanin Zaghari’s release. Officials from both governments had denied this report.

Source: DW