UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and her US counterpart Antony Blinken have called for the immediate release of their citizens being held in Iranian jails.
The pair spoke at the UN General Assembly on Monday, the first time they had met since Ms Truss was promoted last week during a reshuffle of the top positions in the UK government.
In a statement unlikely to mollify European ally France, the two envoys also reasserted their ambition to build a stronger economic and security alliance and cited the new agreement with Australia designed to confront Chinese ambitions in the Far East.
France and China have both strongly criticised the pact. France was furious that a contract to supply submarines to Australia was cancelled because of the new agreement and China warned the signatories against meddling in regional affairs.
“On Iran, they [Truss and Blinken] agreed on the need for an immediate release of all arbitrarily detained British and American nationals and on the need for Iran to return to negotiations on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in Vienna,” said a Foreign Office representative.
“They welcomed the recently agreed Aukus partnership on security in the Indo-Pacific region.”
Ms Truss has told the families of British detainees in Iran that she would take up their cases with Tehran during the global gathering.
They include charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has served a five-year sentence on trumped-up security charges but could be returned to jail after she was convicted on further charges. She is currently on bail.
Ms Truss also spoke with the wife of Anoosheh Ashoori, 67, a retired engineer who is serving a 10-year jail sentence on charges of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. These charges have been dismissed as fabricated by his family and the UK government.
Ms Truss had also been due to meet her Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, to discuss the detained Britons. The meeting has been delayed until Wednesday owing to travel problems for the Iranian delegation.
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
'Midnights'
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