UK Foreign Office: Iranian-British Citizens Should Avoid Traveling to Iran

On Wednesday, September 18, London advised dual Iranian-British citizens to avoid traveling to Iran as much as possible, as London has limited ability to secure their release if they are detained. The UK Foreign Office statement says: "The Foreign Secretary (Jeremy Hunt) has decided to advise dual Iranian-British citizens not to travel to Iran unless absolutely necessary." The Foreign Office further adds: "British citizens who also hold Iranian nationality will face risks if they travel to Iran, and unfortunately, we have already witnessed cases in this regard." The detention of dual nationality British citizens in Iran has posed challenges to London-Tehran relations. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is one such citizen who has been detained on charges of attempting to overthrow the Iranian government and has been in prison for two and a half years. Ms. Zaghari was an employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, and consultations by previous and current UK Foreign Ministers with Islamic Republic officials for her release have not been fruitful. The UK Foreign Office continues in its statement: "The Iranian government does not recognize dual nationality. Therefore, if a dual national is detained, our ability to support them will be severely limited." Earlier in September, Alistair Burt, the UK Foreign Office's Middle East Minister, traveled to Tehran to discuss various diplomatic issues, including the detained dual nationals, but it seems this effort has not yielded results. Abbas Adalat, a mathematics and computer science professor at Imperial College London, is another Iranian-British citizen who has been imprisoned in Iran. He was detained at the home of a relative while visiting Tehran for a workshop in early May this year and was transferred to Evin Prison. Another example is Kamal Foroughi, who was arrested by Iranian security forces about seven years ago and remains in prison. He was tried on charges of espionage and sentenced to eight years in prison.