Britain on Thursday denied any link between a longstanding debt of £400 million ($530 million, 450 million euros) to Iran and the fate of a British woman jailed in Tehran, after a report cited diplomats saying the money could help secure her release. The debt dates back to an arms contract for which Britain had received an advance payment from Iran but which was halted by the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
The money is being held in a frozen bank account in Britain, but sending the funds to Iran is complicated because of European Union and US sanctions on the country. Separately, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has vowed to make every effort to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was imprisoned 19 months ago on charges of sedition.
"We don't see any link between these two issues," a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi also denied any link in comments to Iran's IRNA state news agency.
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