Jeremy Hunt has hit out at those criticising Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, saying she is “absolutely right” to question why it took the UK so long to secure her release from Iran.
The former foreign secretary said those criticising Zaghari-Ratcliffe for not showing more “gratitude” had got it “so wrong”.
“She doesn’t owe us gratitude: we owe her an explanation,” he said.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe spoke to the public for the first time since her release from detention in Iran at a press conference on Monday.
The charity worker, who was imprisoned in Iran in 2016 on bogus charges of threatening to overthrow the government, was outspoken about the fact it took Conservative ministers six years to secure her release from prison.
The mother-of-one said she was let down by successive foreign secretaries before she was finally freed last week following diplomatic efforts from Liz Truss.
Speaking at a press conference in the House of Commons, Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she disagreed with her husband, Richard, who had thanked the government for finally reaching a deal over a £400million debt owed to Iran by the UK over an order for Chieftain tanks more than 40 years ago.
The British-Iranian pointed out that there had been five different foreign secretaries over the course of her six-year prison sentence.
“That is unprecedented given the politics of the UK,” she said. “I love you Richard, respect whatever you believe, but I was told many, many times that ‘Oh we’re going to get you home’. That never happened.”
She said this resulted in her finding it difficult to place trust in them, adding: “How many foreign secretaries does it take for someone to come home? Five?
“What’s happened now should have happened six years ago.”
Following the press conference, some accounts on Twitter criticised Zaghari-Ratcliffe for not being “grateful” that the UK had finally paid the debt and brought her home.
David Bannerman, a former Conservative MEP for the East of England and a one-time deputy leader of the UK Independence Party, wrote: “I do hope she’s not biting the hand that saved her. Does she bear no responsibility for being in a country with such a nasty regime?”
He also retweeted an anonymous account which said: “The words you’re desperately searching for are ‘many thanks to the British government and taxpayers for paying the £400 million ransom…’”
But Hunt was just one of a number of politicians to row behind Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
“She’s absolutely right that it took too long to bring her home,” Hunt said.
“I tried my best — as did other foreign secretaries — but if trying our best took six years then we must be honest and say the problem should have been solved earlier.
“Ministerial turnover may have been a factor. So might initial reluctance to pay the debt because people worried it would look like a ransom. So undoubtedly were the complications over how to pay a country that is sanctioned.
“If democracies can show such impressive unity on Russian sanctions, surely we can do the same to stamp out the 19th century practice of hostage taking?”
Business minister Paul Scully also rowed behind Zaghari-Ratcliffe on Tuesday morning, saying he could “totally understand her frustration”.
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy also praised Zaghari-Ratcliffe for her “strength, dignity and courage”.
Tulip Siddiq, her local Labour MP, has called for a parliamentary inquiry into why it took six years to free her constituent and why the UK’s longstanding debt to Iran could not have been settled sooner.