Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Iranian Government on the new charges being brought against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe; and what steps the Government has taken to secure her release.

We are urgently seeking clarification from the Iranian authorities on reports that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is subject to further charges. I called the Iranian Ambassador to express my concerns, as did the Foreign Secretary in a call to Foreign Minister Zarif and a meeting with Vice-President Salehi on 11 October. But the scope of any additional charges remains unclear. Our Ambassador is continuing to press the Iranian authorities for further information. Iran’s position on dual-nationality makes progress on our consular cases difficult; nonetheless we continue to raise these cases with the Iranian authorities at the highest levels and at every available opportunity. We assess that our current approach is the one most likely to be in the best interests of our dual-national prisoners in Iran.