Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking with his international counterparts to tackle Iran’s practice of unlawfully detaining (a) dual and (b) foreign nationals.

The Foreign Secretary raised his concerns over dual nationals most recently in his call with Foreign Minister Zarif on 9 January. We regularly request consular access to our dual-national prisoners to ensure that they are treated in accordance with international standards and that their welfare needs are met. We will continue to request access to them, however Iran considers these individuals to be Iranians under Iranian law and has not granted the British Government access. The Prime Minister also raised his concerns in a recent telephone call with President Rouhani.