Boris Johnson has held “frank” talks with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran regarding Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman who has been imprisoned there for nearly two years.
The foreign secretary, who landed in the Iranian capital on Saturday morning, had a two-hour meeting with Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, about a number of issues including his “grave concerns” for Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
A British Foreign Office spokesman said a range of bilateral issues had been covered and that both ministers had “spoken frankly about the obstacles in the relationship”, including Johnson’s concerns about the consular cases of British-Iranian dual nationals.
He said the meeting had been “constructive” and both emphasised their commitment to continuing to work together to improve the bilateral relationship.
Johnson will also meet Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, and other officials, the state news agency Irna said on Saturday.
The visit will be Johnson’s first to the country and only the third by a British foreign minister to Iran in the last 14 years.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been told she will appear in court on Sunday facing new charges relating to espionage that could result in her five-year sentence being extended by as much as 10 years.
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SOURCE: The Guardian, Nicola Slawson
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