BBC newsreader's emotional reaction to hearing of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release

Watch: BBC News presenter's emotional response to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release

This is the moment a BBC newsreader was nearly moved to tears as she announce the release of British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe is returning to the UK from Iran, where she has been detained since 2016, having been accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government – something she has always denied.

Fellow dual national detainee Anousheh Ashoori, who has been held in Iran since 2017, is also coming home to his family.

As the news broke on Wednesday morning, BBC News presenter Joanna Gosling became overwhelmed with emotion.

Pausing as she announced the news to viewers, Gosling smiled and said: “Sorry, this is a moving moment because these are people who have been detained for some time.”

Fighting back tears, she composed herself, adding: “Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held for nearly six years in Iran and her husband has worked tirelessly to secure her release.”

The breakthrough ends a years-long ordeal for Zaghari-Ratcliffe, which began in 2016 when she was detained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini International Airport after a holiday visit to Iran with her daughter Gabriella to visit her parents.

Boris Johnson earlier on Wednesday said negotiations about Zaghari-Ratcliffe were “moving forward” but “going right up to the wire”.

But foreign secretary Liz Truss later said the UK had settled an outstanding £400m debt with Iran in a way which complies with British and international sanctions, with the funds that have been released being restricted to humanitarian purposes only.

The UK government has long accepted it should pay the “legitimate debt” for an order of 1,500 Chieftain tanks that was not fulfilled after the shah was deposed and replaced by a revolutionary regime.

The Tehran regime is under strict sanctions, however, which has complicated efforts to repay the money.

Speaking after Zaghari-Ratcliffe's departure from Iran, her husband Richard Ratcliffe said he was “deeply grateful” for her release and that he and their daughter Gabriella were “looking forward to a new life”.

Ratcliffe said she had asked for him to make her a cup of tea on her arrival back in Britain.

Speaking to broadcasters alongside their daughter Gabriella, Mr Ratcliffe said: “There will probably be a couple of days peace and quiet somewhere else, and then back here.

“The first thing she wanted was for me to make her a cup of tea, so we will do (that).

“I think actually we were looking at the house and it needs a bit of tidying, so there might be a bit of tidying, perhaps directed by mummy when she comes back.”

Redress, an anti-torture group which has campaigned for Zaghari-Ratcliffe to be freed, earlier said it congratulated the UK government on “finally negotiating her release”.

Director Rupert Skilbeck said: “We are incredibly relieved that Nazanin will finally be reunited with her family in the UK after a horrific six-year ordeal…

“Nazanin’s detention in Iran was always illegal and her treatment by Iran amounted to torture.

“In celebrating her release, we must not forget the deep and continuing injustice perpetrated by Iran.”