Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is pursuing an independent prisoner swap arrangement for British national hostages in Iran separately from the US.

Securing the immediate and permanent release of arbitrarily detained dual British nationals in Iran is a top priority. The Foreign Secretary has repeatedly pressed for this, as have our Ambassadors in Tehran. We do not accept any of our dual nationals being used as diplomatic leverage. All decisions we take in these cases are based on what we believe will be in the best interests for these detained British nationals.