Richard Ratcliffe 'guarded' on day 19 of hunger strike

The husband of imprisoned Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe said he had "guarded" feelings about talks between UK and Iran officials on the 19th day of his hunger strike.

Iranian deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, was meeting officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on Thursday.

Mr Ratcliffe, who began his demonstration last month after his wife lost her latest appeal in Iran, will meet Foreign Office minister James Cleverly afterwards.

Asked if he was feeling optimistic about the meeting, Mr Ratcliffe said: “No, probably guarded. It’s a good sign the meeting’s happening and I don’t mean to disparage that.

“But I’ve had a lot of Foreign Office meetings where we’ve gone in with high expectations and come out deflated.

“I’m hoping the needle has moved in the last couple of weeks and there’s a realisation that the status quo isn’t enough.”

He said the meeting “wasn’t on the cards" until the protest outside the FCDO.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual national, has been in custody in Iran since 2016 after being accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

She was taking the couple’s daughter, Gabriella, to see her family when she was arrested and sentenced to five years in jail, spending four years in Evin Prison and one under house arrest.

According to her family, she was told by Iranian authorities that she was being detained because of the UK’s failure to pay an outstanding £400 million debt to Iran.

Mr Ratcliffe has said the government needs to do more to free his wife.

“I wouldn’t be camping here if the government was doing enough,” he said

He said the government had known for years that Iran linked his wife’s imprisonment to debt owed to the country by the UK.

“The obvious thing that needs to be done is to settle that dispute and not allow innocent people to have their life wasted,” he said.

Mr Ratcliffe said he told Foreign Secretary Liz Truss at a meeting several weeks ago that the government’s approach was failing.

He said: “We’ll have to meet her again. The first meeting did not go particularly well; the Foreign Office ended it early because the minister was travelling, so we’ll see at the next meeting if she’s more in command of and more persuasive in her answers.”

Earlier this week, Mr Ratcliffe said he would like Boris Johnson to “take responsibility” and push for his cause.

He said: "He (the Prime Minister) promised to settle a debt and he hasn’t, and now my wife is being held hostage. He needs to deliver on that promise."

Mr Ratcliffe told ITV News London's Antoine Allen he wouldn't have got this far without the support the case had received from across the world.

"Knowing that people care, they follow, that you're not alone, it's a huge strength."

He said he was not planning to immediately end his hunger strike.

“It’s definitely feeling harder and it’s definitely feeling like we’re in the last few days, but certainly able to go today and see what happens in the meeting of the ministers.

“We’re not going to be able to do it for much longer because my body is saying so.

“I think we are most likely to still be camping after the meeting, but I suppose that’s a decision to make then.”