Couple held in Iran

Utterly stupid people, and women who take their hard won rights for granted, particularly erk me.

So, there are stunning buildings. Some of the mosques I visited were beautiful. The bazaars were really nice. So much crafted items, very cheap. I loved the mountains in the North. So many historic sites. Loved the food and tea. Loved going to the tea tents by the river. You sit on a raised area, enclosed, covered in carpets and cushions and they bring you food and tea and dates. Very good if you are there as a family and want privacy. You can sit at tables in the gardens, if you prefer.
You need to get used to sit and sleep on the floor, with cushions. And the asian toilets. It is ok if you are young!
You have to wear a scarf and long clothing, like abayas. There are very nice ones indeed. The material is rather thin, so the hot weather is not unsuffereable. All the scarves I took from UK were far too thick and horrible there.
But, you have to cover at all times when outdoors, even if bathing in the sea. If you do not know the language and writting, it is impossible to do anything there. You depend on your guide for everything!
Families are welcoming. With some, you take your abaya and scarf off in the house. Others is like being a nun and do not speak, please. I did not like that. I would not live there for all the gold in the world if I am not allowed to be my own person. With some visitors, either we or the men had to stay inside a room while they were there, depending on their sex. Others were much like UK inside the house and they were jokey and engaging. Same person will act differently, depending on how pious or radical the other is. It is not nice, I think they lose a sense of who they really are.
If they just were allowed freedom, I think they are ready and will be like Dubai in no time. Muslim country, but with a free modern spirit.

idiots. Particularly pairing as they went along - if they absolutely HAD to go through Iran for whatever reason they thought a good one then they should have done it as quickly and quietly as possible. Not posted what they were doing X where they were going m, the lovely people they met etc until they were well out of the country.
They clearly underestimate the power of the British government to get them out if this mess.

I agree - there's an article in the Times today too.

Stupid, stupid decision, FO advisory service is there for a reason. They reside in Spain these days. The British taxpayer will still be footing the bill to extract them.

I don't see anything on this thread saying it's acceptable just that knowing this is how the regime operates and there's limited UK support there, travelling as a tourist was unwise and risky.

They seem to have been remarkably naive. There are good kind people everywhere, of course there are. Doesn't mean they're the ones in charge! There are millions of good kind people in Russia and in the USA but it's Putin, Trump, Vance and the like who are pulling the strings. Don't take risks like this. There are many other beautiful and fascinating places in the world to explore. I feel sorry for the people who are now going to have to negotiate and pay for their release - which we'll all pay for.

@Chuchoter you are mixing up Iran and Afghanistan.

Tax payers money will be spent on them though. Though much. Its pretty obvious you don't go there.

'Mrs Foreman is reported to have been carrying out a research project on their journey to Australia, asking people what it means to be human and what constitutes a good life.
She was due to present her findings at a conference on positive psychology in Brisbane in July.'

She may have some interesting material.

Same reaction when I met some people who went to North Korea 'for fun'.

What eejits.

Is there a way for the UK government to actually stop people like this travelling there for no good reason?

AFAIK Iranian people are free to travel to some countries, so Iranians who live in the UK can arrange to meet their families in other places. Although I appreciate this may be very difficult for some people.

Nevertheless, I do hope this couple will be free to go soon.

Well Said

Fools
I have never been to Iran but a PP said its beautiful so I googled .
You are right, it really is.

I am old and I remember that (though not Iran, granted, but another country I know little of) in the 1970s Lebanon was a tourist destination, as was Libya as a cousin of mine was offered a job on their Airline.
Beirut they called "the Paris of the Middle East"

Nothing happening in Iran is acceptable. Why would they be the exception?

Yep that couldn't be much clearer.

A lot is said these days about natural consequences in regards toddlers but the same logic can apply to these two as well, they choose to ignore that clear warning or shrug and say "won't happen to us" = they stay there until the Iranian regime decides otherwise. However long that might be.

... and that was the third visit, the previous two he retreated when it was clear the reception would be hostile. So the third time he made the fishermen leave him there, because obviously that would improve matters.

They have had consular assistance.

They haven't posted anything anti-Iran on social media, it's perfectly legal to use social media in Iran within the restrictions, it's just censored.

They have been arrested without charge, and it's scary how many people think that is acceptable.

To be fair I think anyone donating to it was probably just as stupid as they are. If you want to go on a long holiday around the world, save up yourself, why should other people pay for it? And if youve got spare cash to donate for a holiday, start your own saving pot! Although obviously people can and do donate willingly to all sorts of CF fundraisers....

The had a face to face meeting with the UK ambassador. Iranian media published it. I don’t think their arrest was recent, only made public now.

Doh of course FCO work all over the world including in war zones! Doesn’t mean you should travel there as a tourist.

the woman posted on social media about her trip including photos with locals and meeting mullahs. Of course she doesn’t deserve it but she was incredibly naive if not stupid (the captions speak for themselves). Even though she is a Spanish resident, UK embassy staff will have to work hard to get them both out and the UK will probably have to enter some sort of diplomatic deal (read pay a ton of money) to get this sorted. They are bargaining chips for the regime now.

It used to be just guidance. But for the last few months it's been pretty much an instruction. And it's made clear on that page that there may well not be any consular services there now.

I've travelled to many 'difficult' countries, but I've never seen this on an FCO page before.

UK government support is extremely limited in Iran. Assume that no face-to-face consular assistance will be possible in an emergency and the UK government will not be able to help you if you get into difficulty in Iran.

The FCO website is just guidance, several hundreds of thousands of UK citizens live and work in areas that the FCO advises against (including FCO staff).

I can't believe how many people seem to think that these people deserved to be arrested.

It's shocking, there's some really nasty comments on this thread.

You do realise people can be very intelligent, hold a PhD and also be dyslexic? One of my friends is exactly this. She holds down a job with a huge amount of responsibility, has a PhD but is dyslexic therefore finds spelling and locating the right word difficult at times

I read that first sentence and couldn’t work out what you were talking about. I was thinking sighted -what?! 🙈

Really?! I’m going to have to look this up now! I thought they released him to a family members house but then sent him back to jail

aaah i forgot you are not supposed to post funding links on mumsnet. I linked to it. Mea culpa MN.

Anyway, I also said (and it's true) that despite they and their situation has irritated me I hope they get home safely. They were clearly unbelievably naive.