Oh, Nazanin. How dignified you are.

[AnyFucker]

Just seen a clip of the press conference she gave. How generous of her to share it with the daughter of a man still trapped in Iran.

How composed and articulate she is. Honestly, with so many fucking idiots in power, how do we keep the faith in the face of what happened to Nazanin.

She is not worth £400 million.
It is crass to suggest this. To try to be even clearer, we did not pay the debt to get Nazanin and Anoosheh home. We paid the debt to improve relations with Iran: for oil and for the nuclear agreement. Iran did what they always said they would do once the debt was paid: release them. But the hostages being freed was a by-product of the UK paying the debt, not the reason for paying the debt.

Photo - the family reunited at Brize Norton.

I think those victim blaming her, defending the government, saying it was her own fault for travelling to see her parents and saying she is not grateful enough, are racist.

Women of colour always get such a bad rap on this site (I am one).

I listened to the press conference and I agree she could have been a little fairer to Liz truss in particular who has been foreign secretary only since last autumn so about 6 months and she equally could have been more critical of the Iranian government who after all are the ones who imprisoned her. I was a little at her comments but I get she would be frustrated hearing yes we will get you out over and over. Perhaps the foreign secretaries should never make these promises to people when they don’t actually know and can’t actually help ( or it is very difficult to do so and they should say so to avoid false hope).
I imagine she cannot be outright critical of Iran as her parents live there still.

I wondered how long it would take for Johnson apologists to find this thread and start calling Nazanin ungrateful. Absolutely gross.

@Cma1988

I think those victim blaming her, defending the government, saying it was her own fault for travelling to see her parents and saying she is not grateful enough, are racist.

Women of colour always get such a bad rap on this site (I am one).

You’re not wrong, there.

@Cma1988

I think those victim blaming her, defending the government, saying it was her own fault for travelling to see her parents and saying she is not grateful enough, are racist.

Women of colour always get such a bad rap on this site (I am one).

Agreed.

@Cma1988

I think those victim blaming her, defending the government, saying it was her own fault for travelling to see her parents and saying she is not grateful enough, are racist.

Women of colour always get such a bad rap on this site (I am one).

I agree.

Plus, why should she be grateful to the government? She should be grateful to her MP, which she seems to be, and her husband.

But sanctions, blah, blah, blah
A way could have been found around sanctions to the satisfaction of all parties, as has happened now when the government is very suddenly highly motivated by relations with Putin's Russia. The debt is paid in trust to a third party and the Iranian government can draw on it for acceptable purposes.

Photo - at the safe house.

The sanctions against Iran were put in place by the EU and, as Johnson never fails to remind us, we haven't been part of the EU for quite some time now. So that argument doesn't really work. They could have had Nazanin home a long time ago and they wouldn't have her home now if they didn't want oil.

[quote Yeahthat]@Papayamya

Yes it's an extraordinary level of entitlement. "I'm going to go to an authoritarian country with draconian laws, which recently imprisoned people involved in similar programmes as I am for 11 years. I'll go there using my dual nationality of that country therefore being seen as a subject of theirs. It will then be up to the British government to pay £400 million to fix that mistake for me if anything goes wrong."[/quote]
I don't agree it is entitlement, but I'm just saying a lot assume they could have just handed a cheque over years ago and she'd have been home. It's not that simple, neither should it be unless we want a country that routinely does this to dual citizens make it even more appealing. I'm thrilled she's home and yes more could and should have been done, but the reality is probably somewhere in between both. As an aside, none of us as individuals are worth much to the government, this one in particular has shown how little regard they hold for people, I'm surprised people thought they would do more for a handful of people, sadly.

I was amazed how composed she was and kudos for saying not acceptable for five HS to come and go before she was released and brought home.

@TanteRose lol for your joining Mumsnet comment!

What tf is wrong with some people 😤

I expect Nazanin can't be critical of the Iranian government because her parents will pay the price. She can be critical of the UK government because this is a democracy with freedoms of speech. We should be happy about that, not expect her to tug her forelock.

Always this expectation of British WOC; be grateful for rescue. Sorry not sorry.

@JaniieJones oooh thanks. I don't follow the news . There are still sanctions in place, they found a way around them. That's what diplomats do.

She may well not want to be too critical publicly of the Iranian government, since she still has her parents in Iran. There might be repercussions.

@Cma1988

I think those victim blaming her, defending the government, saying it was her own fault for travelling to see her parents and saying she is not grateful enough, are racist.

Women of colour always get such a bad rap on this site (I am one).

You have no idea what my race is.

@JanisMoplin
My partner's from a country which would be extremely dangerous for either of us to visit. We've brought my in laws her on several occasions. If we did choose to go, I'd accept that it was entirely at our own risk and expect nothing from the government if it went wrong. I certainly wouldn't believe I had a £400 million rescue policy.

@TheOnlyMrsMac
Exactly my point. It can be justified now by the need for Iranian oil. It wasn't before and she should realise that.

@JaniieJones

A bit of gratitude for the foreign secretaries who worked tirelessly to secure her freedom and some condemnation of the Iranian govt who were actually responsible would have been nice.

Including the one who managed to get her sentence lengthened? That former Foreign Secretary?

With the best will in the world I don't think any of the Foreign Secretaries could be commended for 'having worked tirelessly for her release.'