How the Foreign Office secured Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release

There was a rare display of unity in the Commons chamber this afternoon when Liz Truss gave a statement on the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. While Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner went on the attack at PMQs, asking whether Johnson’s comments when he was Foreign Secretary had made things worse, there was a far more conciliatory tone in the Commons when the Foreign Secretary updated MPs on the 43-year-old British-Iranian dual national’s safe return, after being detained in Iran for more than five years on charges of plotting to overthrow the Tehran government. Tulip Siddiq – the Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn which is the constituency of the Ratcliffes – thanked all those involved in making this possible, paying special credit to Truss and Foreign Office minister James Cleverly.

So, what actually moved the dial and made the release possible? The most obvious change is the decision by the UK government to pay the historic £400 million debt to Iran.