Husband Richard says first thing Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe will do at home is have a cup of tea

The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said that the first thing his wife wants to do when she returns home from Iran is to have a cup of tea.

Nazanin, now 44, had been stuck in Iran since April 3 2016, after being arrested in Tehran airport under bogus spying charges.

She was returning home to the UK with Gabriella, then just one, after visiting her family in Iran.

Nazanin then spent two years in prison, while Gabriella stayed with her grandparents in Tehran.

She was granted a temporary release in 2018, before returning to prison, where she suffered panic attacks.

In 2019, Gabriella, now seven, returned to the UK, where husband Richard has been living, and Nazanin has not seen her since.

This morning it was reported that Nazanin and fellow British-Iranian prisoner Anoosheh Ashoori were being released.

The mum-of-one snapped a photo of herself on the flight out of Tehran.

Speaking to the BBC, Richard said: “The first thing Nazanin always wanted when she returned home was for me to make her a cup of tea.

“I think we’ve been looking at the house and it needs a bit of tidying as well, perhaps directed by Mummy when she gets back.”

Nazanin was held in Iran over a historic £400 million arms debt, which foreign secretary Liz Truss confirmed has now been repaid.

“We’ve obviously been kept out of the loop on it and at various points I’ve been talking to the government about why she’s been held, this has gone on for so long, this is not our fight and please solve it,” Richard continued.

“I don’t know what’s happened, I’ve seen briefings and so on and I’m relieved that the problem has been solved.

“The government has two jobs, to protect people from situations like this and to make sure it doesn’t happen.

“Part of that is to do what we need to do to get people home and part of that is to make sure those who took part to learn the lesson not to continue doing it.

“That second part is for another day but for today I’m really happy with the way things are.”