An inquiry into why the British government took more than 30 years to pay a £400m debt to the Iranian government that was deemed fundamental to the release of British-Iranian dual nationals held in Iranian jails is to be mounted by the foreign affairs select committee.
The decision was taken in principle by the committee on Monday, a committee source said, but would not start until Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and any other former prisoners felt ready to provide evidence.
The former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt joined the calls for an inquiry, saying it had taken too long to pay the debt.
The former Middle East minister Alistair Burt had already written to the committee asking for an inquiry, saying even in office he could not discover the source of the resistance to paying the debt. In a letter to the committee he said “we have a right to know”.
Hunt and Burt say the UK must take the opportunity to learn wider lessons from the negotiations – rather than allow the issues to be forgotten amid the Ukraine and cost-of-living crises.
The select committee inquiry was initially sought by the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq and Richard Ratcliffe, Nazanin’s husband, in a letter to the committee.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual British-Iranian national, was held in Iran after visiting her parents with her then-22-month-old daughter, Gabriella. She was accused of plotting against the regime, linked to her work with media charities though she was not carrying out that work while in the country.
Hunt said there had been a reluctance to pay the £400m debt to Iran because there was a view inside government that it would be equivalent to paying a ransom. He said he had that policy changed in principle during his period as foreign secretary, but there were still practical problems over making a payment due to US sanctions.
The UK government last week finally paid the debt leading to the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori saying it had received undertaking from the Iranians that the money would be used only for humanitarian purposes.
But Gibson Dunn lawyers for Nazanin’s husband, repeatedly wrote to the prime minister, the foreign secretary, the chancellor and the defence secretary suggesting ways in which the money could be paid through humanitarian channels but ministers largely did not reply, or simply replied that all avenues were being explored.
Letters in the possession of the Guardian suggesting humanitarian routes to make the payment were sent on 6 September 2019, 15 April 2020, 13 May 2020 and 11 August 2020.
The last of these letters accused the Foreign Office of “a deliberate policy of procrastination and delay, coupled with the fallacious insistence that the roadblocks to repayment are unavoidable.
“The UK government defaulted on its contractual obligations to Iran in the context of the IMS [International Military Services, the UK government’s former arms sales export arm] debt over 30 years ago, but is still looking to delay or evade repayment, including it appears at the behest of the US government.”
It added: “We have on numerous occasions set out what we consider to be viable options for repayment, including to you personally to the foreign secretary, and have never had any indication as to whether these options have even been explored by International Military Services and the UK government. Please now clarify this and provide details, including whether (and if so when) you have explored payment via humanitarian aid.
”All that the UK government has to do is to honour its legally owed obligations to Tehran in a manner that is unconnected to the release of any British nationals.”
The letter received a one paragraph response, and in private meetings with the family the Foreign Office refused to discuss issues of debt payment.
At a press conference on Monday, Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she did not agree with her husband thanking the British government. “I mean, how many foreign secretaries does it take for someone to come home? Five? We all know … how I came home. It should have happened exactly six years ago. I should not have been in prison for six years.”
In a Twitter thread on Tuesday, Hunt said: “Those criticising Nazanin have got it so wrong. She doesn’t owe us gratitude: we owe her an explanation.
“She’s absolutely right that it took too long to bring her home. I tried my best – as did other foreign secretaries – but if trying our best took six years then we must be honest and say the problem should have been solved earlier.”
Burt, a Tory MP until 2019, in his letter to the select committee asks “If the FS [foreign secretary] wanted the debt paid, and there were times when it appeared the PM, FS and defence secretary all agreed it should be paid, why it was not? And what was the recent change to allow the payment which was not in place this past four years?”
Burt says at one point formed a view that the then defence secretary Gavin Williamson was opposed to the payment. Burt challenged him, leading to a row, but never received a direct response.
