Talks with Iran over Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release are “in full swing,” Boris Johnson said.
Negotiations “move forward,” he said, nearly six years after she was arrested while visiting family.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, has been accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, which she denied.
Her MP Tulip Siddiq said her family were “more hopeful” that she could return to the UK.
Visiting Abu Dhabi, Mr Johnson said negotiations on the release of dual nationals in Tehran had been going on “for a long time”.
He said he would not comment further on Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case “because these negotiations are still ongoing and we are going to the end”.
Ms Siddiq said Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has returned her British passport and is still at her family home in Tehran, where she has been under house arrest since 2020.
The MP for Hampstead and Kilburn told BBC Breakfast there was a British negotiating team in Iran, adding: “It’s hard to imagine why they would be there if there’s no leeway in what happens that can make progress will be the case.”
She said Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard Ratcliffe was “hopeful”.
“I’ve also been in touch with Nazanin, who definitely sounds a little more stressed and nervous than Richard,” she said.
“But at the same time, he’s talking about coming home, being reunited with her husband and daughter, being back home in West Hampstead and saying this is the day she’s dreamed of for the past six years.”
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