Boris Johnson speaks 'forthrightly' with Iranian president in visit to discuss Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Boris Johnson held "forthright" talks with Iran's president on the last day of his visit to Tehran to try to win the release of an imprisoned British mother.

The Foreign Secretary spoke with Hassan Rouhani for more than an hour in a visit which has been dominated by the plight of  Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said both men "spoke forthrightly" and "agreed on the need to make progress in all areas".

The discussions came as it remained unclear whether Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe would be taken back to court on Sunday following threats to increase her sentence by five years after Mr Johnson incorrectly told a parliamentary committee that she had been in Iran to train journalists.

She was arrested in 2016 during a holiday visit to show her baby daughter Gabriella to her parents.

"After meeting Dr [Ali Akbar] Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Association, the Foreign Secretary concluded his visit to Iran with a meeting with President Rouhani," the spokesman said.

"In both meetings the Foreign Secretary discussed the full range of regional and bilateral issues, including banking matters and our concerns about the consular cases of dual nationals."

The Foreign Office spokesman said: "We leave with a sense that both sides want to keep up the momentum to resolve the difficult issues in the bilateral relationship and preserve the nuclear deal."

Mr Johnson also held "frank" discussions in Tehran on Saturday with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, which was described as a "constructive" meeting.

The invitation to see Mr Rouhani was seen as a positive development given the often testy state of relations between the two countries.

Mother-of-one Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in 2016 during a holiday visit to show her baby daughter Gabriella to her parents.