- UK diplomats said to be looking at repaying £450m debt to Iran dating to 1970s
- Hope it will create 'goodwill' to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
- MPs warned linking payment would look like a ransom - which UK does not pay
- Tehran's ambassador to the UK says the payment will be made 'within days'
Britain is ready to pay a £450million debt to Iran 'within days', Tehran's ambassador said today.
The government is said to be preparing to hand over the cash despite fears it will be seen as a 'blackmail ransom' for a jailed British mother.
Boris Johnson has vowed to leave 'no stone upturned' as he scrambles to try to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who is locked in a Tehran jail.
Diplomats are believed to be trying to find a way to get around UN sanctions which have stopped the UK paying the country the cash which dates back to a 1970s arms deal.
Hamid Baeedinejad, Iran's envoy to the UK, reportedly said today that the payment is imminent.
'An outstanding debt owed by the UK to Tehran will be transferred to the Central Bank of Iran in the coming days. The payment ... has nothing to do with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case,' he wrote on his Telegram channel.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, pictured with their daughter Gabriella, and her husband, is desperate to be released from jail. Diplomats are said to be looking at repaying a £450m debt to try to secure her release
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