Iran crisis: Richard Ratcliffe demands meeting with Boris Johnson over wife Nazanin's 'desperate' situation after Soleimani killing

Husband of detainee says US airstrike has made campaign to release UK prisoners more difficult

The husband of Iran-detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has requested an urgent meeting with Boris Johnson following major escalations in tensions between Iran and the US.

Richard Ratcliffe said he wants to see the prime minister to ask how the government plans to keep prisoners with dual nationality safe after the US killing of Qassem Soleimani sparked threats of retaliation by Iran.

Mr Ratcliffe said his wife was “desperate” when she heard about Soleimani’s killing and has warned the airstrike ordered by Donald Trump has made the campaign to release British prisoners more difficult.

“Part of our campaigning has always been to call on Iran to uphold international law and to respect UN rulings in Nazanin’s case and that gets a bit harder when international law is played fast and loose with by other parties,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We have always been a chess piece in this game and this chess game has just changed radically.”

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual British-Iranian citizen, has been imprisoned in Tehran since 2016, when she was arrested and accused of spying in Iran.

In December, her husband told Mr Johnson to stop “getting distracted” from the fight to release her from prison and said the UK government needed to take a “much more robust stand” against hostage-taking.

Anoosheh Ashoori, a British-Iranian dual citizen serving 10 years in the same Tehran jail, also reportedly fears that the killing of Soleimani could damage his case for being released.

His wife, Sherry Izadi, told The Sunday Telegraph she feared he no longer had a “hope in hell” of being let out of prison.

“He told me everyone there is very jittery. They are so scared of the fallout,” Ms Izadi said.

“He had hoped that Iran would negotiate or relent on his release, but we feel that hope is now gone.”

The prime minister has been criticised for not returning immediately to the UK after news of the killing broke.

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, insisted on Sunday he had been in “constant contact” with Mr Johnson, who was on holiday on the island of Mustique, to discuss the crisis.

Middle East experts have warned that the killing of Soleimani, a top military general, could lead to all-out war between the US and Iran.

A spokesperson for Mr Johnson said: "The Foreign Office has been in regular contact with Nazanin’s family to offer them support wherever we can. All of our dual nationals are at the forefront of our thinking on Iran and the decisions that we are making.

"Nazanin’s continued detention is inhumane and completely unacceptable. The prime minister called for the immediate release of Nazanin and the other dual nationals illegally imprisoned in Iran when he met President Rouhani recently."

The spokesperson said Mr Johnson had agreed to meet with Mr Ratcliffe but a specific date had not been announced.

Mr Ratcliffe added that he believes it is now an “appropriate time” for Mr Johnson to meet him to discuss his wife’s case.

“This is not a case where you can stand on the sidelines and just wait quietly,” he told Today.

The prime minister’s handling of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case was widely criticised when he was the foreign secretary in 2017, after he mistakenly said she had been “teaching people journalism” in the country.

Although Mr Johnson later apologised for his remark and said she had been there on holiday, his comment was cited as evidence against her in an Iranian court.

Additional reporting by PA