{"id":335531,"date":"2017-11-18T10:38:35","date_gmt":"2017-11-18T09:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/did-iran-jail-4-britons-in-revenge-for-theresa-may-arresting-its-officials-rt-uk-news\/"},"modified":"2017-11-18T10:38:35","modified_gmt":"2017-11-18T09:38:35","slug":"did-iran-jail-4-britons-in-revenge-for-theresa-may-arresting-its-officials-rt-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/did-iran-jail-4-britons-in-revenge-for-theresa-may-arresting-its-officials-rt-uk-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Iran jail 4 Britons in revenge for Theresa May arresting its officials? \u2014 RT UK News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<p><time class=\"date date_article-header\">Published time: 17 Nov, 2017 12:08 <\/time><\/p>\n<p>        Iran detained a number of UK citizens because it holds a grudge against the prime minister, it has been claimed. The news comes as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tries to engineer the release of British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from an Iranian jail.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article__text text  js-mediator-article\">\n<p>Johnson\u2019s recent blunder over the Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe case has highlighted the plight of UK citizens who have been jailed under dubious charges. The foreign secretary may have added five more years to Zaghari-Ratcliffe\u2019s prison sentence after wrongly telling a select committee hearing she had been teaching journalism in Iran.<\/p>\n<div class=\"arcticle__read-more read-more\">\n<p>Read more<\/p>\n<p>    <a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/uk\/410036-iran-johnson-debt-mother\/\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"read-more__cover\" src=\"https:\/\/cdni.rt.com\/files\/2017.11\/thumbnail\/5a0d6c38fc7e93ea118b4567.jpg\" alt=\"\u00a9 Alberto Pezzali \/ Global Look Press\"\/><br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p>Zaghari-Ratcliffe has always maintained she was merely on holiday introducing her daughter to her Iranian relatives. The mother-of-one was detained on arrival at Tehran Airport on April 3, 2016, accused of producing <em>\u201cpropaganda against the state.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>With the publicity generated by Johnson\u2019s spectacular gaffe, other cases have begun to emerge of Britons banged up in Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Kamal Foroughi, 78, is another dual British-Iranian national arrested for alleged espionage six years ago. He is being held in the notorious Evin prison, serving an eight-year sentence.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cMy Dad has always strenuously maintained his innocence and we believe him,\u201d his son Kamran told the Guardian. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWe are not aware of any evidence that justifies the espionage charge. My daughters have lived half their lives without seeing Grandpa and keep asking when he is coming home. All I can do is give them a hug.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/r-IQLFuEMoA\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Iran\u2019s more conservative elements are notoriously suspicious of citizens with US or UK dual nationality. But there might be other motives at work. Britain has also detained Iranian citizens. Could Zaghari-Ratcliffe\u2019s arrest be tit-for-tat?<\/p>\n<div class=\"arcticle__read-more read-more\">\n<p>Read more<\/p>\n<p>    <a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/uk\/409909-johnson-ratcliffe-iran-prison\/\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"read-more__cover\" src=\"https:\/\/cdni.rt.com\/files\/2017.11\/thumbnail\/5a0c0441fc7e9375458b4569.jpg\" alt=\"Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her daughter Gabriella \u00a9 Free Nazanin campaign\"\/><br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p>Two Iranian officials were arrested at Heathrow Airport under Theresa May\u2019s orders when she was home secretary in David Cameron\u2019s government. They were deported within a week.<\/p>\n<p>Another theory for Iran\u2019s behavior could be historical resentment over a decades old debt. Johnson is said to be addressing a dispute between Tehran and London in which Britain owes Iran \u00a3400 million (US$528 million).<\/p>\n<p>Iran reportedly paid Britain for 1,750 Chieftain tanks and support vehicles in a 1970s arms deal. Only some of the tanks were ever delivered, however, because the Shah of Iran was deposed in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Britain kept the money.<\/p>\n<p>Although a court has ruled Britain must return the cash, it cannot do while Iran is under sanctions. It is understood Chancellor Philip Hammond is working with Johnson to try and find a way to settle the debt as the foreign secretary plans to visit Iran next month.<\/p>\n<p>Could Zaghari-Ratcliffe be a bargaining chip?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/uk\/410156-iran-jail-british-citizens\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=RSS\">RT<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by <a href=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\">RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Published time: 17 Nov, 2017 12:08 Iran detained a number of UK citizens because it holds a grudge against the prime minister, it has been claimed. The news comes as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tries to engineer the release of British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from an Iranian jail. Johnson\u2019s recent blunder over the Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":335532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-335531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}