BORIS Johnson has raised Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s “completely unacceptable” case directly with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.

Downing Street said the two leaders spoke on Wednesday afternoon and the prime minister demanded her immediate release, along with other detained British-Iranian dual nationals.

A No 10 spokesman said: “He said that while the removal of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s ankle monitor was welcome, her continued confinement remains completely unacceptable and she must be allowed to return to her family in the UK.”

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Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe - whose sister-in-law Rebecca Ratcliffe is a GP in Cwmbran - was released from house arrest and had her ankle tag removed at the weekend after a five-year prison term expired.

She was detained in 2016 as Iranian authorities made widely refuted spying allegations, and finished the latter part of her sentence under house arrest due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But she could face further charges and has been unable to return to the UK.

Her husband Richard Ratcliffe, accompanied by the couple’s six-year-old daughter Gabriella, attended a vigil outside the Iranian embassy in Knightsbridge, central London, on Monday.

During the call with Mr Rouhani, the PM also raised Iran’s breaches of its nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The No 10 spokesman said Mr Johnson “stressed that while the UK remains committed to making the Iran nuclear deal a success, Iran must stop all its nuclear activity that breaches the terms of the JCPOA and come back into compliance”.

“He stressed the importance of Iran seizing the opportunity presented by the United States’ willingness to return to the deal if Iran comes back into compliance.

“The prime minister underlined the need for Iran to cease wider destabilising activity and be a positive force in the Gulf region.”