LONDON: The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman jailed in Tehran, on Thursday said his wife was being used as a “chess piece,” following talks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Speaking from Downing Street after his meeting, Richard Ratcliffe said there was a “gap” between him and the government over its tactics.
“I think there remains that gap between my sense that the government needs to be tougher with Iran, alongside improving relations generally, and the Foreign Office instinct to not have things escalate,” he told reporters.
“I don’t think I have come away thinking Nazanin is coming out tomorrow or even next week.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016 after visiting relatives in Iran with her young daughter.
She worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation — the media organization’s philanthropic arm — at the time.
Her family say Johnson jeopardized her case by mischaracterizing her job at the time.
Iranian authorities convicted her of sedition — a charge Zaghari-Ratcliffe has always contested — and she is serving a five-year jail term.
Her case has unfolded amid escalating tensions between Tehran and the West, particularly the United States and Britain.
But Ratcliffe believes it is particularly linked to London’s failure to return £400 million ($500 million, 450 million euros) owed to Tehran for a 1970s tank deal.
Ratcliffe said Thursday that his wife was “being held hostage” and used as a “chess piece.”
“That wasn’t disputed in there,” he said. “The UK obviously is wary of that tightrope it is walking between the US and Europe in Iran relations.
“I was saying ‘I think this is different’. This is a global norm, that actually we all uphold universal values where hostage-taking shouldn’t be happening.”
Ratcliffe had previously blamed Johnson for making his wife’s case worse by mistakenly stating, when he was foreign minister, that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been training journalists while visiting Iran.
The pair “didn’t talk about the past” on Thursday, he said.
Johnson “was very clear that he was committed in what he was doing... and that if there was anything they could do almost within reason, that they were ready to do it,” Ratcliffe added.
“I don’t doubt his personal commitment to Nazanin.”
Jailed UK-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe is ‘chess piece’: husband
https://arab.news/mde9g
Jailed UK-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe is ‘chess piece’: husband
- Ratcliffe said there was a 'gap' between him and the government over its tactics
- Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016
Norway says Russia, China seek to up presence on Svalbard
- The second-largest town on Svalbard is almost entirely populated by Russian nationals
- China’s presence was becoming more visible in the Arctic
OSLO: While global tensions have focused on Greenland, Norway’s military intelligence service said on Friday that Russia and China were looking to increase their presence on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.
In its annual threat assessment, the Norwegian Intelligence Service said that “from Moscow’s perspective, Svalbard’s strategic location makes it necessary to maintain a Russian presence there.”
The second-largest town on Svalbard, the coal mining settlement of Barentsburg, is almost entirely populated by Russian nationals.
“There are signs that the Kremlin is looking to make the Barentsburg settlement less dependent on Norwegian supply and transport infrastructure
“Regular port visits by ships from Russia constitute one planned step in this direction,” the agency said.
It said Beijing was “also expected to work toward enhancing the Chinese presence in Svalbard.”
“The archipelago is strategically placed for future shipping routes and polar research, which are central to cementing China’s role as an Arctic actor,” it said in its report.
It noted that China’s presence was becoming more visible in the Arctic and that five Chinese research vessels had operated in the Arctic Ocean in 2025, compared to three in 2024 and one in previous years.
The service also noted that tensions between the United States and Europe over Greenland and security in the Arctic “could serve both Russian and Chinese interests.”
- ‘Crumbling’ world order -
Andreas Stensones, head of the service, said in the report that Moscow and Beijing stood to benefit as “international cooperation and institutions are being undermined.”
“The same dynamic is evident in the Arctic. Much of the foundation for Norwegian security is being challenged and we must accept that the world order as we have known it is crumbling,” Stensones said.
Speaking at a press conference, Norwegian Defense Minister Tore Sandvik noted: “2026 has so far been characterised by great uncertainty.”
He pointed in particular to US President Donald Trump’s vocally stated desire to take over Greenland.
Trump’s threats against Greenland last month plunged NATO — of which Norway is a member — into its deepest crisis in years.
“There is no denying that relations across the Atlantic are more unpredictable,” Sandvik said.
Stensones told the same press conference that Washington’s actions affected how both Moscow and Beijing were thinking and acting.
“In their view, western unity has already begun to crack, and they see great opportunities to strengthen their influence and secure control in their neighboring areas,” he told reporters.
