Freedom of Zaghari and Ashoori in Exchange for Money?

With the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori from prison and their departure from the country, the foreign ministers of Iran and Britain simultaneously announced that Iran’s debt from Britain has been paid. Iran says these two issues are not related to each other.

Simultaneously with the release of two Iranian-British citizens, 43-year-old Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and 67-year-old Anoosheh Ashoori, from prison and their departure from the country, the foreign ministers of Iran and Britain commented on the matter.

According to IRNA news agency, Hossein Amirabdollahian, the foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, told reporters about the release of Nazanin Zaghari: “We had a claim of more than 390 million pounds from Britain before the victory of the Islamic Revolution regarding some defense purchases we had from England.” He added: “Over the past four months, there have been intensive contacts between me and the British foreign minister, and our goal was to revive these claims so that this amount would be transferred to Iran’s central bank.”

Amirabdollahian stated: “We received this amount a few days ago, but at the same time the legal proceedings and legal process for requesting the release of these two people continued. Perhaps in terms of timing, the days of release and money transfer were close to each other, but there is no connection between these two issues.”

The foreign minister says the release of these two individuals (Nazanin Zaghari and Anoosheh Ashoori) was ultimately achieved “with a humanitarian perspective in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Amirabdollahian said that news reports about taking money and releasing these individuals are false and inaccurate.

Liz Truss, British foreign secretary, also told Parliament that the change of government in Iran in the summer of last year created momentum in talks between the two countries.

According to the Associated Press news agency, Truss said that through intensive diplomatic efforts with Oman’s mediation, Britain’s debt to Iran was finally resolved, and London agreed to pay Iran 393.8 million pounds (515.5 million dollars), on the condition that this money would be spent for humanitarian purposes.

The British foreign secretary also informed the British Parliament of the release of these two British-Iranian citizens and said they would soon join their families in Britain.

While the British government also denies any connection between the release of the two Iranian-British citizens and the payment of Britain’s debt to Iran, Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband says Iran took Nazanin Zaghari hostage to pressure London to pay the money.

Latest reports indicate that these two Iranian-British citizens traveled to London after arriving in Muscat, the capital of Oman.

Release of Morad Tahbaz

Liz Truss, British foreign secretary, also said: “I can confirm that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori will return to Britain today, and Morad Tahbaz has been released from prison on leave. They will join their families later today.”

The British foreign secretary also promised that “we will continue our efforts to secure Mr. Tahbaz’s departure from Iran.”

Morad Tahbaz has been in Evin Prison since the winter of 2017. He was previously tried in Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, headed by Judge Solouti, along with seven other defendants in a case called environmental activists. According to the verdict, Nilofar Bayani and Morad Tahbaz were each sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, Taher Ghadirian and Houman Jokkar were each sentenced to 8 years imprisonment, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Sam Rajabi, and Sepideh Kashani were each sentenced to 6 years imprisonment, and Abdolreza Koohpayeh was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment.