What will happen to the woman now is unclear, also for her family. “We don’t know how to interpret the subpoena. Does it mean they just finish all the paperwork and release her and return her passport? Or does it mean they are detaining her a second time?” interview with Sky News.
Relationship between UK and Iran
In 2017, the British newspaper The Telegraph wrote that the UK was willing to pay EUR 450 million for the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe. That amount was not intended as a ransom; the UK was willing to release credit from a 1970s arms deal. Authorities in Iran have always denied that credit was the reason for the woman’s detention.
Her sentence and a possible extension are also set against the background of the tensions surrounding the 2015 Iran deal. In that agreement, a number of countries, including the UK, agreed with Iran that that country would limit its nuclear activities and controls by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would permit.
In return, economic sanctions against Iran were lifted. In 2018, former President Trump withdrew the US from the deal and introduced new harsh economic sanctions against Iran. Tehran has since increased pressure on signatories to remove economic sanctions.
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