Ex minister tells govt to pay Iran debt to resolve on Zaghari-Ratcliffe case

Former minister and Conservative MP Stephen Hammond has said in a statement today that he plans to write to the Government urging them to pay the £400m debt owed to Iran following yesterday’s Commons’ debate on the “appalling” case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who remains detained in Iran.

Hammond argued: “It is clear that our country owes a debt to Iran which was incurred in 1979. Therefore, paying the debt would not constitute paying ransom money.

“Moreover, as the debt was incurred in 1979 which was pre-the sanctions regime, to pay the debt would almost certainly not breach the sanctions. Therefore, I do believe the government should pay the debt.”

Last week Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard Ratcliffe ended a more than 20 day hunger strike in protest at the foreign office’s failure to secure his wife’s release.