Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband reacted with "horror" to Soleimani killing
4 January 2020, 14:06
The husband of a woman detained in Iran view the US killing of an Iranian general as a "setback" for their case.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained in Iran since 3 April 2016.
Her husband, Richard, said: "Obviously, the family saw the events of yesterday with a kind of horror. It's clearly a setback for our case, for all of those who have been held. And, you know, we sat with a sense of foreboding."
Ratcliffe said he is able to speak to his wife three times a week for 10 minutes. They spoke this morning.
He said it is "worrying times" for her.
Discussing when he would meet the Prime Minister, Ratcliffe said: "He's not given us a date. So he's promised, in principle, to meet."
Ratcliffe later said: "Well, I think wise heads need to prevail. I think it's it's important to try and understand what's going on, what's going to go on next.
"I suspect the Brits were blindsided by this and I suspect the Iranians were blind-sighted by it.
"I think there's a need to make sure things don't get worse and within that making sure things don't get worse, there's a need to reiterate again and again that innocent people should not be the current collateral damage any more than they already are."
He then spoke about the difficulty of his family being apart because of Nazanin's captivity.
It's difficult for their daughter to communicate with her mother over the phone and it is "off the agenda" for her to visit her mother in prison.
