The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has rejected an appeal by the Foreign Office to hand over £400 million allegedly owed to Iran for a tank deal despite claims it could help secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran, it was claimed on Tuesday.
The move to settle a legal dispute over the outstanding £400 million debt between Britain and Iran has been resisted by successive defence ministers because of fears the money could end up in the hands of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Iranian authorities have not made an explicit link between the outstanding payment and the fate of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker who is serving a five-year…