Two British-Australian women have reportedly been arrested and detained in
Iran amid growing tensions between
London and Tehran. A blogger who was travelling with her
Australian boyfriend and an academic who studied at Cambridge University were seized in separate incidents, according to The Times. The blogger was detained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard for camping in a military precinct around Jajrood in Tehran province, the
BBC Persia reported. The pair are believed to have been incarcerated in Evin Jail, Tehran, where 41-year old Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being held. The mother of one is a British-Iranian national who has been imprisoned in the country since 2016. The latest incidents are thought to be the first time
British passport holders who do not have Iranian nationality have been imprisoned in Tehran in recent years. The Foreign Office reportedly requested that the women remained anonymous. The Australian government is taking the lead on both cases. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe timeline Tulip Siddiq, who is Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s
Labour MP, told The Times: “This terrible news shows a clear escalation of Iran’s hostage diplomacy. Soft diplomatic responses to Iran’s illegal and inhumane treatment of British prisoners have been a failure.” The Foreign Office declined to comment. It states on its website: “There is a risk that British nationals, and a higher risk that British-Iranian dual nationals, could be arbitrarily detained in Iran. All British nationals should consider carefully the risks of travelling to Iran.” The news came as
Britain accused accused Tehran of an "unacceptable" breach of international norms after it apparently broke a promise that an oil tanker detained off Gibraltar this summer would not deliver oil to Syria. Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, summoned the Iranian ambassador on Tuesday afternoon following reports that the Adrian Darya 1, which was at the centre of a diplomatic crisis after being seized by Royal Marines in July, had delivered a cargo of crude oil to the Syrian port of Tartus. Britain says Iran repeatedly gave assurances that the ship would not deliver oil to any EU-sanctioned entity in
Syria or elsewhere before it was released last month. Mr Raab said: “Iran has shown complete disregard for its own assurances over Adrian Darya 1. “This sale of oil to Assad’s brutal regime is part of a pattern of behaviour by the Government of Iran designed to disrupt regional security. This includes illegally supplying weapons to Houthi insurgents in
Yemen, support for Hezbollah terrorists and most recently its attempts to hijack commercial ships passing through the Gulf. Iran tensions | Read more “We want Iran to come in from the cold but the only way to do that is to keep its word and comply with the rules-based international system.” The Adrian Darya 1, known as the Grace 1 until it was renamed by its owners last month, was seized by Gibraltar authorities and Royal Marine Commandos acting on intelligence that it was bound for Syria on July 4. Britain and Gibraltar said the move was to enforce
European Union sanctions that forbid the supply of oil to the regime of
Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator. It was released in August after a court in Gibraltar accepted assurances that the vessel would not breach the sanctions, and rejected a last-minute US bid to have it impounded. But the vessel spent several days meandering near the Syrian coast and turned off its transponder before apparently making its delivery last week.