Iranian officials present a multi-million pound shopping list to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
IRANIAN officials have presented ministers with a multi-million pound shopping list of demands to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, The Sun can reveal.
The series of costly requests were spelled out during meetings about her case with Foreign Office ministers.
Regime hardliners made it clear they expect them to be met before they release the traumatised 38 year-old British-Iranian mum from jail.
The demands include:
- Britain must settle a 38 year-old bill for £400m after reneging on a deal to sell Chieftan tanks to Iran
- The Iranian Embassy in London wants to open a bank account instead of having to horde cash in its basement to pay for everything because of US sanctions
- Tehran also wants more British and other European companies to open offices in Iran to prove that the nuclear deal has brought prosperity.
A quid pro quo ‘ransom’ agreement has never been formally proposed by Iranian officials.
But British ministers have been left in little doubt that is the price for Nazanin’s freedom, as the long-standing demands always resurface whenever secret talks over her jailing in April 2016 take place.
One minister told The Sun: “The Iranian regime conducts foreign policy by hostage taking. It always has done.
“Nazanin’s case is no different. This time, they want us to pay up.”
The revelations shed new light on whether Boris Johnson’s gaffe is really to blame for Nazanin’s extended incarceration, or is just being used by Teheran as an excuse to hold her for longer.
The bungling Foreign Secretary’s mistaken declaration that she was in Iran to train journalists rather than there on holiday was seized on by hardliners as a reason to double her jail term to 10 years.
It also comes as Boris today meets Nazanin’s husband Richard Ratcliffe today for the first time.
The pair will discuss with Mr Ratcliffe plea for the government to grant “diplomatic protection” to his wife as a way to try to force Iran to release her.
Top of the list of Iran officials’ demands is the £400m to settle the long-running Chieftan tanks row.
The Shah of Iran ordered 1,750 of the British-made tanks and support vehicles before he was toppled in 1979.
Despite Iran paying for them, only 185 were delivered before the order was cancelled when the Ayatollahs took over.
Iran won a ruling for the UK to pay up from the International Chamber of Commerce in 2009.
Britain’s former ambassador to Tehran yesterday warned against expecting a breakthrough in the fight to release Nazanin when Boris visits Iran later this year.
Sir Richard Dalton said the negotiations will involve “a long haul”.
