Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe released ‘after UK paid £400 million debt’, Iran media claims

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been reportedly handed over to a British team at an airport in Tehran

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released by Iran after the UK paid a £400m debt to Tehran, Iranian state media has reported.

Iran’s English language broadcaster Press TV announced Britain had “settled a long-overdue debt of $530million to Tehran”.

Fars news agency also said that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe had paid Iran the $530million sum “before her release.”

The UK government confirmed on Wednesday that they had made a payment of £393.8million in settlement of the 40-year-old debt. The debt was for Chieftain tanks bought by the former Shah of Iran but never delivered after the 1979 Islamic Revolution that removed him from power.

Iranian state media reported that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was handed over to a British team at about 2.15pm local time on Wednesday but that “formalities” were still underway at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Airport.

The Independent has not been able to verify these reports.

“She was handed over to the British team after being transferred to the International Imam Khomeini Airport this morning,” Fars reported.

Iranian media has yet to comment on whether Anoosheh Ashoori has been handed over to the British team.

While the British and Iranian governments have said that there is no connection between the debt and Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case, her local MP Tulip Siddiq said on Wednesday that the aid worker had been told she was being held because of the UK’s failure to pay the debt.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe served five years in prison and was convicted of plotting the overthrow of Iran’s government, a charge that she has continuously denied.

Reuters news agency have reported that Iran’s judiciary confirmed the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on Wednesday after years of detention.