Liz Truss told family of British hostage in Iran he was not her 'problem'
Liz Truss told the family of a British man taken hostage in Iran he was not her “problem”, it has been claimed.
MPs last night warned ministers are “failing” citizens captured abroad with their “clumsiness” and “avoidable errors”.
The Commons foreign affairs committee highlighted blunders made by both Boris Johnson and Ms Truss during their time as foreign secretary.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was kept behind bars by the Iranian regime after Mr Johnson in 2017 wrongly said she had been teaching journalism in Tehran.
The report highlighted Ms Truss’s handling of the case of Morad Tahbaz, a joint UK-US-Iranian citizen.
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According to evidence from his family and private conversations with US officials, Ms Truss agreed with the Americans that he would be released alongside Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe in March last year.
“However, Liz Truss did not stand by this arrangement and failed to let either the family or US officials know that Morad was not to be released with [her] and Anoosheh Ashoori,” the MPs said.
“Instead of being informed by the FCDO or the Foreign Secretary, the Tahbaz family learnt about Nazanin and Anoosheh’s release on the news.
“It was, instead, left to senior US State Department officials to formally notify them that Morad had not been released.”
The MPs added: “Liz Truss eventually called the family to say that ‘Morad is now a US problem’, implying that she would not put further effort into his release, and she did not have time to speak to them further.”
Alicia Kearns, the Tory chair of the committee, said: “The Government’s approach to state-level hostage taking is failing British citizens.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori returned to Britain in March last year (Getty Images)“Detainees and their families report ministerial clumsiness, serious and avoidable errors, and even callous and hurtful comments to families.”
Mr Tahbaz, who was arrested in January 2018 on charges of espionage while on a trip to Iran, remains in prison there.
A spokesman for Ms Truss said: “Many of the assertions in the report are not true… It was always the case that as Morad Tahbaz was also a US citizen, the maximum on the table in any deal with the UK was securing furlough, which was achieved.
“Morad’s family were aware of this and were kept informed of developments throughout.
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“Without the action Liz took, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori would still be in jail today.”
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