British woman faces alleged coup charge in Iran

An Iranian-British woman held in Iran has been accused of trying to cause a “soft toppling” of the Islamic Republic’s government.

A report by Iran’s state-run news agency, IRNA, is the first official acknowledgement of the detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency.

IRNA said Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested on April 3, at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, and later transferred to a prison in the Kerman province. Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe joins a growing number of dual Iranian citizens detained in the wake of the country’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was trying to fly out of the country with her toddler daughter, who remains in Iran with family, after authorities seized her passport, say Amnesty International.

Iran said Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 37, had participated in the “design and implementation of cyber and media projects to cause the soft toppling of the Islamic Republic”. It did not elaborate. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

Iran does not recognise dual citizenship. Iran’s government harbours deep suspicions about both Britain and the United States.