UK Trying to Blackmail Iran by Tying Frozen Money to Prisoner Case, Araqchi Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi hit back at the UK prime minister for pressuring Tehran to release convicted prisoners, saying London has taken Iran’s own money hostage in exchange for inmates.
“UK tries to blackmail Iran by taking our OWN money- illegally kept for more than 40 years- hostage in exchange for prisoners,” Araqchi said in a tweet on Saturday, responding to a message from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson who has urged Iran to release Anoosheh Ashoori, a dual citizen convicted of espionage in Iran.
“This is never going to work,” Araqchi underlined.
“We still have a deal. Time for UK to do right thing and stop letting US to sabotage humanitarian exchange,” the Iranian deputy minister added.
His comments came after Johnson deplored what he called the “wrongful detention” of Ashoori in Iran, calling on Iran to release the inmate immediately.
Ashoori, who previously lived in southeast London with his family, was detained in August 2017 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for cooperating with Israel’s spy agency Mossad and two years for obtaining 33,000 euros in “illicit funds” nearly a year later.
The UK is in debt to Iran, arising from the non-delivery of 1,500 Chieftain Tanks and 250 other armored vehicles ordered by the then Shah of Iran before his overthrow in 1979.
In January 2019, a top court in Britain dismissed a complaint lodged by Iran seeking at least £20 million in interest for the debt related to the defense deals. Judge Stephen Phillips from the High Court in London ruled that the UK does not have to pay the sum that Iran believes has accrued on £387 million owed to Tehran over the failed delivery of more than 1,500 Chieftain tanks and armored vehicles based on contracts signed as of 1971.
Britain has repeatedly refrained from paying the debt it acknowledges it owes to Iran, citing illegal sanctions imposed by the United States on Tehran.
