(Bloomberg) — Iran said U.S. sanctions blocked a proposed deal with the U.K. to try to secure the release of dual nationals detained by the Islamic Republic from going ahead earlier this year.
Tehran’s ambassador to London, Mohsen Baharvand, told reporters at a briefing Friday that Iran “had a deal and signed it but then two days after signature of that deal, the U.K. government said they cannot implement it because of U.S. sanctions.”
He didn’t give details of when the agreement was struck or how it had been blocked.
Baharvand said a delegation from the U.K. visited Tehran last week, where imprisoned Iranian-British dual nationals, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, were discussed.
In the U.K., the fate of Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who’s been detained since 2016, has been linked to an unpaid 400 million pound-debt owed to Iran since a defense contract was abandoned after the 1979 revolution. Iran has denied any such connection.
The debt was also discussed in last week’s visit and talks over how that money can be paid back, and whether a bank can be used to transfer the funds, are ongoing, Baharvand said.
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