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And is on her way back to the UK. Some good news for a change
Her husband will be needing the Junk food thread (too soon??).
I shouldn't be glib, it's very good news and well overdue.
Fantastic news!
I do hope that when she's safely home she doesn't hold back about our glorious leaders contribution to the whole sorry episode when he was foreign Secretary
Of all the stupid, crass things he's done, that is right up there as one of the worst
He significantly contributed to her extended sentence through his shear laziness and incompetence in not even bothering to read his briefing notes on her case
It's almost as if the Iranians are seeing an opportunity to sell more oil, eh?
**EDIT - Apologies, that was a bit crass. It is, obviously, fantastic for her and her family, and Anoosheh Ashoori and his family.
With a very narrow focus - this is great news.
Binners sums up my wider thoughts; will raab, at PMQs, attempted to claim credit - on behalf of johnson - for this?
Any attempt to do so will be skewered by Raynor who's leading for labour today.
The wheels seem to have been oiled for this process! Very happy for her husband who has been incredible. Mixed feelings about Tulip Siddiq.
This is great news. So overdue.
I hope the family can manage the transition to some kind of normality now.
Glad she is out but the timing?
Irans deputy is in Russia today as well.
Let's hope the press leave them alone.
Good news
A tiny slither of good news.
Huge for the family obviously
I do hope that when she’s safely home she doesn’t hold back about our glorious leaders contribution to the whole sorry episode when he was foreign Secretary
I imagine he'll be first in line to take credit.
The wheels seem to have been oiled for this process!
It's reported that the UK has settled its £400m debt.
Have they paid the debt to Iran then?
Truss says it was a 'legitimate debt' then why wasn't it repaid before?
I kept listening to interviews with her sister and others on radio this morning and they were using terms like 'unconfirmed', 'awaiting details', 'still in holding by the IRG / authorities at Tehran airport' and I could only think...
Has anyone actually watched Argo!!!!
Great news once she's on friendly soil.
Brilliant!
It’s reported that the UK has settled its £400m debt.
Amongst many reasons, the original deal that the debt is related was with the previous regime (i.e. the Shah of Iran et al). He was then ousted in the Islamic Revolution by a regime that the West did not like, and has not liked since, and has been very closely linked to terrorism. Western governments didn't really want to be giving hundreds of millions of dollars to (what they deemed) terrorist regimes.
**EDIT - and, yes, insert examples of glaringly hypocritical examples of where they've done just that here
Truss says it was a ‘legitimate debt’ then why wasn’t it repaid before?
I think the reason it wasn't paid while Nasanin was in Prison was the govt didn't want it linked directly to her captivity and then release. Why they didn't pay it before she was arrested I've no idea; because Iran, is my best guess.
Truss says it was a ‘legitimate debt’ then why wasn’t it repaid before?
The debt was with the Iranaian government prior to the revolution and UK didn't want to honour that debt to the post revolution government (i.e. didn't want to give it funds). Truss has made some comment about a way being found to pay the debt. Whatever that might mean.
First thing that has made me feel good for a long time . I imagined how she and her family must be feeling.
🤞🏻
Truss has made some comment about a way being found to pay the debt. Whatever that might mean.
Because, ironically, once Iran had been sanctioned up the hoo-hah for various different things over the years, it makes it very difficult practically to send money there. At the end of the day, governments use the same banking networks, which are bound by the same sanctions legislation, that punters do.
Radcliffe's MP Tulip Siddiq has also said that Liz Truss was the first of the 5 foreign sec that she's dealt with who has actually taken it seriously though, and worked with her to do something rather than talk a bunch and not do anything . So credit where it's due
Great news for her and her family when she finally gets back home.
It’s almost as if the Iranians are seeing an opportunity to sell more oil, eh?
That had occurred to me too.
So she absolutely, definitely wasn't a spy then ?
Just asking because I don't think I ever heard anyone ask the question. The narrative has always been the assumption of 'innocent, British housewife' / nasty, dirty Iranians.
I know she didn't look like James Bond but I don't suppose they ever do, do they ?
Radcliffe’s MP Tulip Siddiq has also said that Liz Truss was the first of the 5 foreign sec that she’s dealt with who has actually taken it seriously though, and worked with her to do something rather than talk a bunch and not do anything . So credit where it’s due
Yep, fair play.
Pay it in rubles.
Pay in Rubles?
Well, Swift isn't working so I guess we could just fly the cash there direct.
Oh, hang on, the Russians destroyed the Antonov AN-225 in Ukraine
'very closely linked to terrorism', I could have sworn ISIS were Sunni, were funded by Saudis, and they hated Shias. Bit of double standards in operation mebbes.
Bit of double standards in operation mebbes
Always
This is great news.
All the background politics can wait for another day.
I could have sworn ISIS were Sunni, were funded by Saudis, and they hated Shias.
There have been several militant Shia groups over the years that have been identified as ‘terrorists’ by UK and other Western governments, although I can’t think of a ‘big name’ terrorist group with Shia links at present. Iran and Hezbollah have tended to focus their efforts against Israel - I think Black September might have been Shia? In any event, Saudi Arabia have a pretty sketchy relationship with Sunni extremism, and UK seems happy enough to do business with them.
Western governments didn’t really want to be giving hundreds of millions of dollars to (what they deemed) terrorist regimes.
The embargo prevents the legal transfer of the monies to Iran. The UK government can't legally pay the debt.
By the way, Iran has never asked for the money in return for Nazanin Radcliffe so it's a puzzle why it's asserted that her conviction and imprisonment was all about the debt. She isn't the first Briton held in Iran since the debt was incurred.
Great news!
Not entirely sure why but it does seem to have become an accepted ‘thing’ that her detention was about the debt.
I’m not sure how many Chieftains are left now in museums and so on but I guess we could round them up and send them the tanks!
By the way, Iran has never asked for the money in return for Nazanin Radcliffe
I don't think that's right. In this article her husband essentially says “Over the three and a half years Nazanin has been held, we have had many messages from Iranian authorities in private linking Nazanin’s imprisonment to the old arms debt.
I don't doubt that there's been issues with the payment being made legally, but it's also been no secret that the Iranians are holding her as collateral.
Priti Patel will send her back to Iran to fill in a visa application, upload her water bill, etc etc.
I don’t doubt that there’s been issues with the payment being made legally, but it’s also been no secret that the Iranians are holding her as collateral.
Her husband is going to say anything to get her released.
She isn't the first Briton to be held in Iran since 1979 but somehow she's the only one linked to the Chieftan tank debt!
Couldn't we just have a scout around round the back of our military bases and find the 1,500 Chieftans they ordered?
So she absolutely, definitely wasn’t a spy then ?
That's what I've always wondered. It's clearly a terrible ordeal that she's been through, but did the Iranians really just take a normal citizen hostage for no reason? There must have been thousands of other Brits that have visited Iran in the time she's been imprisoned, most of whom, presumably, don't get held as collateral.
We're just supposed to be outraged. Ours is not to reason why, I suppose.
but somehow she’s the only one linked to the Chieftan tank debt!
It could be, just could be that she was the unlucky person the Iranians just chose, y'know? Some one in the ministry makes a call to someone at the airport, and some one makes a decision about who'll be arrested...Her.
I think her husband has been saying it's linked since day 1, That's what he was told. I don't think the Iranians have ever been anything but pretty clear about it.
Not a spy, but potentially worse from the Iranian perspective - from Wiki:
The prosecutor general of Tehran stated in October 2017 that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was being held for running "a BBC Persian online journalism course which was aimed at recruiting and training people to spread propaganda against Iran"
Dictatorships (and Tory governments) aren't huge fans of a free and inquisitive press
Liz Truss' Instagram feed will be full of photos of this later today. After all she's the real hero here 🤦
Now, I'm no Truss fan, but as was said earlier on the thread
Radcliffe’s MP Tulip Siddiq has also said that Liz Truss was the first of the 5 foreign sec that she’s dealt with who has actually taken it seriously though, and worked with her to do something rather than talk a bunch and not do anything . So credit where it’s due