London Will Pay $500Mln Tanks Debt to Iran

MHz

Time Out
Mar 16, 2007
41,030
43
48
Red Deer AB
HAHAHAHAHA

https://sputniknews.com/business/20...bt-to-iran-after-court-rules-on-final-amount/
Hunt Says London Will Pay $500Mln Tanks Debt to Iran After Court Rules on Final Amount


MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Former UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that the UK would pay its 400 billion pound (nearly $500 million) debt to Iran after formal court proceedings on the amount owed were completed, but the repayment could not be considered a bargaining chip in talks on the release of a UK-Iranian national currently detained by Tehran.

"Our policy as the British government had always been absolutely clear. We are a law-abiding government, so if there is a court order that says that this money has to be paid ... then we obey the law. ... The court process is still continuing, it is still deciding the exact amount that has to be paid," Hunt said, as quoted by The Guardian news outlet.
Hunt emphasised that the debt repayment, once the court ruled on the amount, would not be linked to the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe, so as not to give other governments an incentive to use hostages as a bargaining chip in inter-governmental disputes.
Hunt also noted that the western policy toward Iran was proving to be ineffective and suggested that Europe and Washington form a new policy toward Tehran if they wanted the Middle Eastern country's cooperation.
The United Kingdom owes Iran roughly 400 billion pounds for Chieftain tanks, which it sold to Tehran in the 1980s but never delivered. On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif implicated to reporters at the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York, that Tehran releasing Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been detained in Iran since 2016, was pendent on London's repayment of the debt.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has both UK and Iranian passports, has been under arrest in Iran since April 2016 over allegedly plotting against the government, claims she has denied. In September last year, she was sentenced to five years in prison.
 

MHz

Time Out
Mar 16, 2007
41,030
43
48
Red Deer AB
The Brits are evil people, no doubt about it.



http://english.alarabiya.net/en/New...Iran-secure-release-of-jailed-aid-worker.html
Britain said on Thursday that moves towards paying half a billion dollars to Iran for a debt owed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution had nothing to do with a bid to secure the release of a jailed Iranian-British aid worker.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was detained in April and sentenced to five years after an Iranian court convicted her of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s government is under intense pressure to secure Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release, in part because Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson made remarks that Iran said justified her conviction.

Britain has sought legal advice over whether it could transfer over $528 million (400 million pounds) which it owes the Islamic Republic in capital and interest for a 1970s arms deal with the then-Shah of Iran, the Telegraph newspaper reported.

Britain owes the money after the Shah paid up front for 1,750 Chieftain tanks and other vehicles, almost none of which were eventually delivered after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 toppled the Shah.

British officials did not directly answer requests for comment on whether they were preparing to pay the money to Iran, but May’s spokesman said the debt issue was not linked to the attempts to convince Tehran to release Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Five-year-sentence

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years after being convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges.