Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

[Boac]

The dreadful sage goes on. Poor family. 'Released' at the end of her 'prison sentence' but now facing new charges. BoJo must be really proud of his what his flapping garrulous mouth achieved as 'Foreign Secretary'.

Now he is PM.............................

[Undried Plum]

He's a **** eejit.

He sealed her fate when he blurted her backup cover story before she'd even started using it. The Iranian security authorities are not fools. They know exactly how FCO/SIS works. They know that every SIS asset has a backup story to use if the cover story breaks down. They just didn't know what the backup story was going to be.

He then further compounded his blunder by retrospectively awarding her Diplo cover.

Diplomatic credentials are normally presented by a true diplomat upon arrival in the host country, or as soon thereafter as is practical. Retrospective award of diplomatic cover is a dead giveaway that the person is an Intel asset. It's just taking the piss.

[Boac]

Would I be correct in assuming you did not vote for him?

[AtomKraft]

If they paid for the tanks, either provide the tanks or refund the money.

Doesn't seem that complicated to me.

[John Hill]

They cant refund the money because that would upset the US UN.

[AtomKraft]

Ffs.
Not supplying the tanks was a sanction, but refunding the dough is not.

The Iranians (strangely) paid in advance. For understandable reasons we preferred not to deliver the goods, but then refusing to give them a refund is clearly cheating.

Give them their money!

[Undried Plum]

Give them their money!

Plus Compound Interest!

43 years at the Judicial Rate of 8%pa: £400M becomes £11Bn!

[tango15]

Give them their money!

Plus Compound Interest!

43 years at the Judicial Rate of 8%pa: £400M becomes £11Bn!

If the gold tank which was made for the Shah is still in the Tank Museum, it could be used as part payment

[unifoxos]

Beats me why anybody goes there - they have been holding people hostage for money since at least 1978 - anybody remember Ross Perot and the EDS affair?

[Boac]

Beats me why anybody goes there

Family?

[ian16th]

Anyone else remember when Iran was a member of CENTO?

I spent a night in Tehran, December 1963, in transit from Akrotiri to Karachi.

Dunno why, on the way back we stopped to refuel about lunch time, and carried on the same day.

The a/c was a Britannia.

[llondel]

If it was 43 years ago then I'd give them the tanks they paid for. Probably highly vulnerable to modern weapons.

[Undried Plum]

Beats me why anybody goes there - they have been holding people hostage for money since at least 1978 - anybody remember Ross Perot and the EDS affair?

I've been to Iran four times since 1978.

i): I was there working for a Brit Company for a few months, under contract to the Imperial Iranian Navy, when the Shi'ite hit the fan. Was 'rescued' at night by the RN. Long story.

ii): Went back a coupla weeks later to fetch a million bucks worth of radionavigation gear from a hundred miles or more of rather hostile coast. Motivated by a huge, and I do mean HUGE, bonus on offer for success. Teamed up in-country with some old mates of the helicopter subsidiary of a well known darts player, who needed a bit of help from a heli-savvy guy who needed a bit of transport help to get shore stations to a central pickup point on the coast and onto a couple of large Smit suppliers/anchorcrankers for transit to Dubai. Long story too, fictionalised a wee bit in a best seller by an author who put us up in the Dubai Carlton Towers for a weekend at his expense, including Champagne and caviar, so he could get 'ideas' for a novel he was putting together.

iii): Went back again during the Iran/Iraq War, for oodles of boodle and much adventure. Was in the epicentre of the "Tanker War", eg Ganaveh and Kharg Island and Bushire etc, for a few months. Went prematurely silver-grey.

iv): Drove my Omani Range Rover across Iran, having taken it as deck cargo on a Dhow from Dubai to Bandar Abbas. Very very strict 7 day transit visa with horrendous penalties for overstay, but enough time to visit the places that the Septics called Desert One and Desert Two, as well as a visit to the famous Nest Of Spies Museum. Made it across the Turkish border with about eight hours to spare. Whew!

Ah! Happy days, mostly.

I can look forward to telling my two (or more!) grandchildren tales of such things of an evening when they're old enough to understand such matters, by a roaring log fire, with a dram in my hand. My son knows of it, my daughter does not.

I'll probably not tell the grandkids, at any age, about a very good friend of mine who was killed in front of my eyes at Ganaveh and never grew old. Here's tae ya, WT.

[AtomKraft]

Thanks for that, Plum.

As I'm sure you know, bad manners encourages bad manners.

Not refunding these bloody Persians is inexcusable.

We should always try to play fair. Remember the Turkish Battleships? Cheating has consequences.

[AtomKraft]

Seems we've coughed up, and she has her passport back.

At least according to the World at One.

[Undried Plum]

It would be really peachy if the UK would resume compliance with the Agreement which the Septics so predictably reneged upon.

We really should forgive the Iranian people for overthrowing our imposed puppet dictator and reverting to democracy.

That would be nice.

[Boac]

I think AK is referring to the money for the tanks?

[Undried Plum]

All of it?

At the judicial rate of interest, compounded, £400M in 1978 would be worth £12Bn today.

[AtomKraft]

They are keeping quiet about the amount, but somewhere between 400 million and 12 billion quid, I guess....

[llondel]

All of it?

At the judicial rate of interest, compounded, £400M in 1978 would be worth £12Bn today.

They probably agreed a lower sum, often happens when settling a troublesome debt, just to get it off the books and close the matter.