Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe negotiations with Iran 'going right up to the wire', says Boris

16 March 2022, 06:39 | Updated: 16 March 2022, 06:42

Negotiations with Iran to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe are "going right up to the wire", Boris Johnson has said while visiting Abu Dhabi.

Speaking to broadcasters, Mr Johnson said talks were "moving forward" but that he could not say more as "negotiations continue to be under way".

He said: "It is true and it has been for a long time that we're negotiating for the release of our dual nationals in Tehran.

"There are some very sad cases, including Nazanin.

"I really don't think I should say much more, I'm sorry, although things are moving forward.

"I shouldn't really say much more right now just because those negotiations continue to be under way and we're going right up to the wire."

It comes after Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe's local MP revealed she had been given her British passport back, following reports the detained Iranian-British national could be released.

Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq said in a tweet: "I am very pleased to say that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been given her British passport back.

"She is still at her family home in Tehran. I also understand that there is a British negotiating team in Tehran right now.

"I will keep posting updates as I get them."

Earlier on Tuesday, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe's lawyer said he was hopeful there would be good news as London and Tehran engaged in talks about a long-standing £400m debt, which her husband Richard believes is the real reason she was detained.

The aid worker was detained in Iran in April 2016 after taking her young daughter to visit family.

In September that same year she was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of "plotting to topple the Iranian government".

She spend four years in jail and one under house arrest.

Read more: PM: I'd love to promise Nazanin she'll be home for Xmas - it breaks my heart I can't

Read more: 'Naz Don't Cry': Christmas charity single released to support Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Her sentence ended in 2021 but she was then found guilty of propaganda activities against the government.

She has always denied the charges, and her British husband said she was actually imprisoned as "leverage" because of the UK's debt to Iran.

He has long called for her release and demanded the UK Government pay the debt, staging a hunger strike and camping outside the Foreign Office last year.