World

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: UK downplays Iran reports a deal has been struck to secure release

The UK will pay £400m to Tehran to free Iranian-British woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, according to reports on Iranian state TV.

The channel reported that deals have been reached to release prisoners with Western ties held in Iran.

An official also said a deal with the US will see a prisoner swap in exchange for the release of $7bn (£5bn) in frozen Iranian funds.

“The release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in exchange for the UK’s payment of its £400m debt to Iran has also been finalised,” he said.

It comes just days after Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to another year in prison on charges of “propaganda activities against the regime” in Iran.

She was also banned from leaving the country for one year for participating in a protest in front of the Iranian Embassy in London in 2009.