Ex-Foreign Office head says painful saga of British-Iranian national may be reaching ‘endgame’

The saga to get Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe back to the UK is nearing its endgame, the recently retired head of the Foreign Office (FCDO) has said.

Lord McDonald, permanent undersecretary at the FCDO until the summer, said for the first time the UK had been looking at repaying a historic £400m debt to Iran through humanitarian payments that would not be subject to sanctions on the country.

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