Boris Johnson Arrives in Iran to Press for Release for Detained Briton
Johnson said that My first visit is an opportunity to hold further discussions on a series of crucial issues,
Mr. Johnson’s visit is his first to the region as foreign minister,
and the first to Iran by a British foreign secretary since 2015, the Foreign Office said.
Mr. Johnson was now expected to lobby Mr. Zarif for the release of Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other dual citizens being held in Iran.
9, 2017
TEHRAN — Britain’s foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, arrived in Tehran on Saturday as part of a three-nation tour of the Middle East, tasked with paying a huge outstanding debt to the Iranian government
and with pushing for the release of a dual citizen jailed on sedition charges.
But Tehran has signaled that it was willing to swap the detainees for Iranians held in the United States, in addition to seeking to clear old debts
and the release of at least 14 Iranians it says have been unfairly imprisoned or prosecuted by the United States or its allies.
Both Britain and Iran say the repayment would not be tied to Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case, though the United
States made a similar payment to Iran around the time of the release in 2016 of four American citizens.
He also said he was concerned she might be on the verge of "a nervous breakdown." Iran has held several foreigners on charges
such as espionage, a continuing source of tension with Western nations, particularly the United States and Britain.