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BRITAIN’S FOREIGN MINISTER visited Iran today to press for the release of British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe amid accusations at home that one of his gaffes has seriously harmed her case.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson held talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif which also touched on a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, the future of which has been thrown into doubt by US President Donald Trump.
Johnson also met Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, who said Britain needed to do more to open trade and banking ties with Iran.
“Since the JCPOA (nuclear deal), trade and economic cooperation between the two countries have been unsatisfactory and the facilitation of banking relations can be a start for expanding cooperation in other sectors,” Shamkhani said after the meeting, according to official news agency IRNA.
Johnson, who is due to meet President Hassan Rouhani tomorrow, did not speak to reporters. He released a statement prior to his arrival, saying:
I will stress my grave concerns about our dual national consular cases and press for their release where there are humanitarian grounds to do so.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian citizen, was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016 after visiting relatives.
She was given five years in prison over her alleged role in mass protests in 2009, which she denies, and will face additional charges in court tomorrow of “spreading propaganda”.
Husband Richard Ratcliffe, who had lobbied to join Johnson on the visit, says his wife has been used as a pawn in Iran’s efforts to extract some 450 million pounds ($600 million) owed to Iran since before the 1979 Islamic revolution.
He has raised concerns about his wife’s mental health, citing the mounting toll of her prolonged incarceration in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
The case has become highly politicised, especially after a “slip of the tongue” by Johnson last month when he stated that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been training journalists in Iran, which has been used by the Iranian authorities to help justify the new charges.
‘Harassment and prosecution’
Meanwhile, the BBC urged Johnson to raise their complaints about the “harassment and prosecution” of their Persian-language staff living abroad.
“While he is in Iran, we urge Boris Johnson to raise the case of BBC Persian staff, who have had a criminal investigation launched against them simply because they work for the BBC,” the broadcaster said on Twitter.
BBC Persian staff have had their Iranian bank accounts frozen, and complain of threatening phone calls and interrogations of family members in Iran.
Johnson is on a three-day trip to the region, stopping in Oman and moving on to the United Arab Emirates tomorrow.
It is the first visit of a foreign secretary to Iran since 2015 when the nuclear deal was signed. It unfolds amid mass protests across the Muslim world over Trump’s decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
“While our relationship with Iran has improved significantly since 2011, it is not straightforward and on many issues we will not agree,” Johnson said ahead of the trip.
Britain severed diplomatic relations in 2011 after protesters stormed its embassy in Tehran in response to sanctions over the nuclear dispute.
The embassy was reopened in 2015 and full relations restored last year.
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Since when are big bag of cans with the lads classed as groceries?
@I Crow: They’re more than groceries , they’re staples!!!
I’m basically 95% Bulmers and 5% Iceberger these days.
That’s hilarious. Heatwave- buy extra groceries, clothes, furniture, toys…. Poor weather conditions- buy extra groceries, clothes, toys. Buy buy buy!
Where do kantar get these figures ? How accurate are they. Dunnes, lild and Aldi are private companies and don’t give out this information.
@Martin Sinnott: from the named research firm in the article. You are very suspicious. Hope you haven’t had a bad experience in the past making you not trust people.
@Martin Sinnott: private companies supply data all the time for many reasons , they want to know how they are performing in market share ? They want to compare how their competitors are performing , research is conducted all the time for all kinds of data , mobile companies want to know their market share , car companies the list is endless , being private companies doesn’t mean they won’t share performance information , most industries have some credible source , in this case kantar are the reputable research company and as they monitor the data ongoing basis you can sure it is pretty accurate actually
@Dave Hammond: Lidl/Aldi are on top now with 23.1% and they are the best.
@Martin Sinnott: They give a sample audience scanners and pay them to record their weekly shopping (you can apply for those positions), that data is used for the trends and market share projections.
Only part of the data is made public, the specifics are sold back to the supermarkets.
The price of a bottle of sunscreen is just amazing €10 to €15 on average!
Previously for at home in Ireland one bottle of factor 15 would still have a good bit left in it for at least 2 or 3 years…
@Dotty Dunleary: try Aldi’s sunscreen
@Dotty Dunleary: I wonder what street it is you’re buying your sunscreen on, because it’s not the same street as I’m buying my sunscreen on. Down to Lildi with ya.
@Dotty Dunleary: I paid €30 for a bottle in the Dominican Republic last year, €10-15 is cheap in comparison!
@DaisyMay: If I wanted to end up like a lobster attracting flies I will! :-D
@Sam Harms: Big windows in that shop for tourists I’d say!
I thought the country was broke?
@The Bull McCabe: your about 7 years behind , nearly a full employment now.
SuperValu dying a slow death. No value= lower sales. They been slipping constantly on this market research but done nothing about it?
@Artur Gurta: not what i read recently. Ill try and find the article for you
How can four million people spend twenty seven pounds on groceries
@Peter Murphy: bags of ice probably account for 12 million
They normally wait outside the doors of these supermarkets to ask buyers for their receipts for to do the market research.
How can Supervalue sales only go up 0.1% and all others roughly 2.5 %?
@Kevin Cashin: because they’re expensive and they’re products have gone downhill
@Me_a_monkey: *their
No thanks to the propaganda spread by some media outlets.
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