Iran Press/ Iran News: Saeed Khatibzadeh was speaking at a press briefing in response to a question on a debt paid by Britain to Iran.
He said that the British government recently paid the 390-million-pound debt after more than 40 years of delay and following long-running negotiations, adding that London had unfortunately tied paying its debt to political issues.
The foreign ministry spokesman also said Iran’s Judiciary released two British-Iranian nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anousheh Ashouri from prison based on humanitarian considerations.
Khatibzadeh said the pair were serving their sentences based on an Iranian court ruling and they were released before their jail terms were completed.
The diplomat stressed that the release of the two detainees had no connection with the debt the British government paid.
The spokesman explained that Tehran and London reached an agreement last summer over the payment of the debt, but Britain later refused to implement the document it had signed with Iran.
Khatibzadeh also said another detainee Morad Tahbaz has also been released on furlough.
He thanked Oman for having a constructive role in this regard.
Iranian-American Tahbaz was sentenced to ten years in jail in November 2019 for cooperating with the US government. Ashouri and Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been jailed for involvement in espionage activities against Iran.
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