Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been handed back her British passport, an MP said on Tuesday, sparking hope that she could be freed within days.
The mother-of-one, who holds duel British-Iranian citizenship, has been detained in Iran for almost seven years on charges of plotting against the regime.
Her imprisonment has been linked to a £400 million historic debt that Britain owes Iran.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s lawyer said he is “hopeful” there would be good news soon, as Tehran and London pressed on with talks about a long-standing debt.
When asked whether she will be released, her lawyer Hojjat Kermani said: “I am hopeful that we will have good news soon.”
Labour MP Tulip Saddiq said Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, from Hampstead, has been given back her British passport but is still at her family home in Tehran.
She added that she “understands that there is a British negotiating team in Tehran right now” discussing her release.
Iranian media has reported that the UK has settled the £400 million it owes the country over the non-delivery of Chieftain tanks in 1979.
However, Iranian Government officials did not comment when asked whether the amount had been paid, Reuters news agency said.
The Foreign Office refused to confirm whether it had settled the debt with Iran or if it expected Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe to be released.
A spokesman said: “We continue to explore options to resolve this case and will not comment further as discussions are ongoing.”
They added: “We have long called for the release of unfairly detained British nationals in Iran. We don’t comment on speculation”
I am very pleased to say that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been given her British passport back.
— Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) March 15, 2022
She is still at her family home in Tehran. I also understand that there is a British negotiating team in Tehran right now.
I will keep posting updates as I get them.#FreeNazanin
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at a Tehran airport in April 2016 when visiting family in Iran with her daughter Gabriella.
She was jailed for five years on charges of plotting against the regime.
The charity worker was then sentenced to another year’s confinement last April after being accused of “spreading propaganda”.
The mother-of-one has spent the past year on parole at her parents’ home in Tehran in fear she could be sent back to prison at any time.
Both Tehran and London has repeatedly rejected associating the debt Britain owed to Iran with the fate of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
However the Zaghari-Ratcliffe family said they were told she would be released, along with other dual nationals Anoosheh Ashoori and Morad Tahbaz, when the UK pays a the money it owes.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard Ratcliffe went on hunger strike and camped outside the Foreign Office in Whitehall for 21 days last year in a bid to draw more attention to his wife’s case.
At the time he told the Standard “This is not a ransom. If it was, I would not support paying it.
“This is a debt and we are a country that pays its debts. There should be no link between this and the case of, not just Nazanin, but the other innocent people detained.
“This is a thorn in the side of the relationship and whether or not Iran sees there to be a link, we need to pay.”
