Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department recognises (a) British nationals and (b) dual Iranian-British nationals detained by the Iranian government as state hostages.

The UK does not, and never will, accept our nationals being used as diplomatic leverage.  It remains in Iran's gift to release any British National who has been unfairly detained. We urge the Government of Iran to stop its practice of unfairly detaining British and other foreign nationals, and we will continue to work with like-minded partners to that end.