THERESA May should use her last days as Prime Minister to push Iran to release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the SNP has said.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said talk of military action in Iran is “reckless” and May must do more to help secure the release of the British mother jailed by Tehran.
He told the House of Commons: “I have just come from a meeting with Richard Ratcliffe, who has spent more than a week outside the Iranian embassy on hunger strike in protest against his wife’s wrongful imprisonment. Surely enough is enough?”
“Can I ask the Prime Minister to consider the plight of her citizens and to move to make representations in the time that she has left to assist the Ratcliffes in their campaign for freedom and justice?”
May replied: “She has faced unacceptable treatment during her three years in jail. Our position is very clear. She was on holiday. She was visiting her relations.”
The Prime Minister said she has raised the issue on a “number of occasions” with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Blackford said the UK needs to help de-escalate tensions in the Middle East, adding: “Talk of military action at this stage in the diplomatic process is simply reckless.”
May said: “I think it was right the minister for the Middle East was able to further engage with the government of Iran about the UK’s long-held concerns over Iran’s destabilising activity and the danger this poses to the region.
“The UK will continue to play its full part alongside international partners to find diplomatic solutions to reduce the current tension.”
In her statement, Mrs May said the UK is calling on Iran to “urgently de-escalate tensions” and the priority remains finding a diplomatic solution to the tension in the region.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Britain and other European nations must play a role in “defusing, not raising, tensions” and called for the restoration of support for the Iran nuclear deal.
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