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I first met Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe shortly after she was released from prison in Iran and reunited with her husband Richard and daughter Gabriella.

We met in a coffee shop near her home and talked about what she had been through.

Her arrest, her incarceration and her and Richard’s six-year battle to get her home. Gabriella was less than two years old when her mother was wrongly imprisoned, and nearly eight when she came home.

This was a woman who had travelled to Iran on holiday in 2016, a mother of a young child and a private citizen, and she returned home a national figure, whose story had become front page news not just in the UK but around the world.

Nazanin’s was a case that eventually also instructed Iranian-British relations, after then foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt escalated her plight to a formal, legal dispute between Tehran and London in 2018.

And when her freedom was finally secured in March 2022, with the UK paying a historic £400m debt to Iran, then the foreign secretary, and now prime minister, Liz Truss, was waiting in Northolt to greet her off the plane.

Through her own ordeal Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had lit a touchpaper against oppression, injustice and the abuse of women, when she emerged from the notorious Evin prison and house arrest, she became a symbol of freedom and overcoming adversity.

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But she was above all else a mother that had been separated from her child for six years, and after a press conference, a BBC interview and the odd newspaper interview, Nazanin dropped off the radar. It was an attempt to get back to some sort of normal life.

And then, on Nazanin’s six-month anniversary of freedom, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested for allegedly wearing a hijab headscarf in an “improper” way.

Mahsa Amini. Pic: Center for Human Rights in Iran
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Mahsa Amini. Pic: Center for Human Rights in Iran

Her death sparked protests across Iran, despite the crackdown on anti-regime demonstrations which has led to hundreds of arrests and dozens of deaths, according to Amnesty International.

It also ignited memories and anger for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who herself was arrested at the airport as she was about to fly home, separated from her child and then put in solitary confinement for nine months.

“It does bring memories of when I was arrested, but also how helpless you are when you are in custody. What has helped the Iranian regime sustain the way they are treating people is just the way they arrest you and they disconnect you from the rest of the world.

“So they put them in solitary confinement, or they take you somewhere unknown and they break you emotionally. So this in my head, every time that I hear the news of somebody being arrested, I think about what I have gone through, the night of my arrest, imagining what they will be going through now.

“With Mahsa’s arrest and her death, and then subsequent arrests and everything, this whole story of six years ago came back to me again,” she explains, and says her daughter has picked up that “mummy is not really happy”.

“I think it would be very hard to just sit back and relax. Even though I am living far away, but my heart it still with them.”

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, right, sat down for an interview with Sky's Beth Rigby
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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, right, sat down for an interview with Sky’s Beth Rigby

Nazanin also tells me that she thinks it’s her “responsibility” to speak up, and to stand in solidarity with Iranians protesting. She cut her hair in a show of solidarity with women in Iran, reciting the names of men and women who were imprisoned or had died at the hands of the regime. And she also decided to give an interview to Sky News to raise the case of Iranian women and implore political leaders “not to turn a blind eye” to what is happening. She told me the UK government “must act” over human rights abuses.

“I want them (the UK government) to protect us. We cannot be indifferent to what is happening in Iran. And if we talk about protecting the rights of citizens, we have to do something about it. And I think we have to hold Iran accountable. And the world has to make it very, very expensive for Iran to violate human rights so easily. It should be costly.”

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Pic: BBC
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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has cut her hair in a show of solidarity for women in Iran. Pic: BBC

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe tells me she wants to see sanctions in place and argues that any discussion over nuclear deals with Iran, and trying to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons, should not in any way compromise Western countries’ approach to human rights. “That should be a completely separate topic,” she tells me.

She also wants to see the UK government “observe”, “protect” and “act” over the human rights abuses in Iran, including introducing sanctions, and that she is “expecting Liz Truss to condemn what’s happening” in the country.

Read more:
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe forced to sign ‘false confession’ before leaving Iran

Downing Street defends Nazanin after critics say she should be more grateful for her release

As for the women, who on the streets of Iran that are fighting, as she did during her six years of incarceration, there will be no going back. “What I do believe is Iran will never be the same. Whatever happens in the future, it will never go back to where it was before September.”

Whether it’s regime change or a change in approach to women, is hard to read, but Nazanin is sure that change cannot be thwarted and she intends to use her voice and her platform to press the case for fellow Iranian women. “I never felt free when I came out, as I have mentioned many times, freedom would only be complete when there is nobody in Iran put into prison for standing up for their rights.”

A woman freed, but forever tied to the battle she didn’t want or ask to fight. Now fighting for and with those women and men caught up in the oppression of the Iranian regime.

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‘Physical threat’ from Iran on people living in UK has ‘increased significantly’, watchdog says

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'Physical threat' from Iran on people living in UK has 'increased significantly', watchdog says

The threat of physical attacks by Iran on people living in the UK has increased “significantly” since 2022, according to a new report by parliament’s intelligence watchdog.

Iran poses a “wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat” to the UK, according to the Intelligence and Security Committee.

It also said Iran’s intelligence services were “willing and able – often through third party agents – to attempt assassination within the UK, and kidnap from the UK”.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Pic: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/West Asia News Agency/Reuters

The report said there have been 15 murder or kidnap attempts against British citizens or UK-based individuals since the beginning of 2022 and August 2023.

Sky News has approached the Iranian embassy for a comment.

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Millions of Iranians unite in mourning

The report authors add: “Whilst Iran’s activity appears to be less strategic and on a smaller scale than Russia and China, Iran poses a wide-ranging threat to UK national security, which should not be underestimated: it is persistent and crucially – unpredictable.”

The committee also says that while the threat is often focused on dissidents and other opponents to the regime, there is also an increased threat to Jewish and Israeli interests in the UK.

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The report warns that while Iran has not developed a nuclear weapon, it has taken steps towards that goal.

It found that Iran had been “broadly compliant” with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aimed at limiting its nuclear ambitions.

But since Donald Trump withdrew from that deal in 2018, the report said the nuclear threat had increased and Tehran “had the capability to arm in a relatively short period”.

The UK government is also accused of “fire-fighting” rather than developing a real understanding of Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and military commanders watch as military equipment passes by during the National Army Day parade
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Iran’s president oversees a parade in Tehran in April showing off the country’s military hardware. Pic: West Asia News Agency/Reuters

An Iranian missile is seen during the National Army Day parade ceremony in Tehran
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Missiles are paraded through the capital during the recent National Army Day ceremony. Pic: West Asia News Agency/Reuters

The report says: “The government’s policy on Iran has suffered from a focus on crisis management, driven by concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme, to the exclusion of other issues.

“As one of our expert witnesses told the committee: ‘Strategy is not a word that I think has crossed the lips of policy makers for a while, certainly not in relation to Iran’.”

The committee concluded its evidence-taking in August 2023, the result of two years of work, but the report authors say their conclusions “remain relevant”.

But the report authors questioned whether UK sanctions against individuals would “in practice deliver behavioural change. Or in fact unhelpfully push Iran towards China”.

The committee also said the British government should consider proscribing the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), although some argue it would limit the UK’s ability to talk to and influence Iran.

Read more from Sky News:
Who is Iran’s supreme leader?
Defiant Khamenei makes appearance
Anger in Iran over US and Israeli strikes

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Responding to the report, a UK government spokesperson said: “The government will take action wherever necessary to protect national security, which is a foundation of our plan for change.

“We have already placed Iran on the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme and introduced further sanctions against individuals and entities linked to Iran, bringing the total number of sanctions to 450.”

British security services say Tehran uses criminal proxies to carry out its work in Britain.

In December, two Romanians were charged after a journalist working for a Persian language media organisation in London was stabbed in the leg. In May, three Iranian men appeared in court charged with assisting Iran’s foreign intelligence service and plotting violence against journalists.

Earlier this year, the UK government said it would require the Iranian state to register everything it does to exert political influence in the UK, because of what it called increasingly aggressive activity.

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‘A constant game of cat and mouse’: Inside the crackdown on illegal moped delivery drivers

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'A constant game of cat and mouse': Inside the crackdown on illegal moped delivery drivers

The first thing you notice when immigration officers stop a possible illegal moped delivery driver is the speed in which the suspect quickly taps on their mobile.

“We’re in their WhatsApp groups – they’ll be telling thousands now that we’re here… so our cover is blown,” the lead immigration officer tells me.

“It’s like a constant game of cat and mouse.”

Twelve Immigration Enforcement officers, part of the Home Office, are joining colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police in a crackdown on road offences and migrants working illegally.

Police chase suspected illegal immigrant working as a delivery drivers

The West of England and Wales has seen the highest number of arrests over the last year for illegal workers outside of London.

“It is a problem… we’re tackling it,” Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says. He covers all the devolved nations.

“This is just one of the operations going on around the country, every day of the week, every month of the year.”

Murad Mohammed from Immigration Enforcement
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Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says his team are attempting to tackle the issue

Just outside the Cabot Circus shopping complex, we stop a young Albanian man who arrived in the UK on the back of a truck.

He’s on an expensive and fast-looking e-bike, with a new-looking Just Eat delivery bag.

He says he just uses it for “groceries” – but the officer isn’t buying it. He’s arrested, but then bailed instantly.

A man inspects the Just Eat food delivery bag of a suspected illegal immigrant working as a delivery driver

We don’t know the specifics of his case, but one officer tells me this suspected offence won’t count against his asylum claim.

Such is the scale of the problem – the backlog, loopholes and the complexity of cases – that trying to keep on top of it feels impossible.

This is one of many raids happening across the UK as part of what the government says is a “blitz” targeting illegal working hotspots.

Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, joins the team for an hour at one of Bristol’s retail parks, scattered with fast food chains and, therefore, delivery bikes.

Angela Eagle, Minister for Border Security and Asylum
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Border security and asylum minister, Angela Eagle, speaks to Sky News

She says arrests for illegal working are up over the last year by 51% from the year before, to more than 7,000.

“If we find you working, you can lose access to the hotel or the support you have [been] given under false pretences,” she said.

“We are cracking down on that abuse, and we intend to keep doing so.”

A suspected illegal immigrant working as a delivery driver being arrested

There are reports that asylum seekers can rent legitimate delivery-driver accounts within hours of arriving in the country – skipping employment legality checks.

Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat all told Sky News they’re continuing to strengthen the technology they use to remove anyone working illegally.

But a new Border Security Bill, working its way through Parliament, could see companies fined £60,000 for each illegal worker discovered, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.

“I had them all in to see me last week and I told them in no uncertain terms that we take a very tough line on this kind of abuse and they’ve got to change their systems so they can drive it out and off their platforms,” the minister tells me.

Read more:
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Ex-Tory chairman defects to Reform
Wealth tax could be coming to the UK – what is it?

The gig economy – so prevalent in every city – creates another incentive for those wanting to risk their lives coming to the UK illegally.

More than 20,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel to the UK in 2025 – a record number at this point of the year.

A suspected illegal immigrant working as a delivery driver holds his helmet

For some of those who arrive, a bike and a phone provide a way to repay debts to gang masters.

There were eight arrests today in Bristol, one or two taken into custody, but it was 12 hours of hard work by a dozen immigration officers and the support of the police.

As two mopeds are pushed onto a low-loader, you can’t help but feel, despite the best intentions, that at the moment, this is a losing battle.

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This flimsy vessel carrying migrants could reach British waters in a few hours’ time

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This flimsy vessel carrying migrants could be hours away from reaching British waters

We see the boat from a distance – the orange of the life jackets reflected in the rising sun.

And as we draw closer, we can make out dozens of people crowded on board as it sets off from the shore, from a beach near Dunkirk.

There is no sign of any police activity on the shore, and there are no police vessels in the water.

Instead, the migrants crammed into an inflatable dinghy are being watched by us, on board a private boat, and the looming figure of the Minck, a French search and rescue ship that soon arrives.

Picture to go with Adam Parsons' eyewitness of migrants crossing on 10/07/25
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Minck, a French search and rescue ship, shadows the boat

The dinghy meanders. It’s not heading towards Britain but rather hugging the coast.

A few of the passengers wave at us cheerfully, but then the boat starts to head back towards the shore.

Picture to go with Adam Parsons' eyewitness of migrants crossing on 10/07/25
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Sky’s Adam Parsons at the scene

As it nears a different beach, we see a police vehicle – a dune buggy – heading down to meet it.

Normal practice is for French police officers to slice through the material of any of these small boats that end up back on shore.

Two police officers get out of the buggy and wait. A police helicopter arrives and circles above, performing a tight circle over the heads of the migrants.

The police think they might be about to go back on to the beach; in fact, these passengers know that most of them are staying put.

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The boat stops a short distance from the shore and four people jump out. As they wade towards the beach, the boat turns and starts to head back out to sea.

We see the two police officers approach these four men and have a brief conversation.

They don’t appear to check the bags they are carrying and, if they do question them about why they left the boat, it is the most cursory of conversations.

In reality, these people probably don’t speak French but they were almost certainly involved in arranging this crossing, which is against the law. But all four walk away, disappearing into the dunes at the back of the beach.

Read more:
Why do so many from around the world try to cross the Channel?
Channel crossings rise by 50% in first six months of 2025

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Why do migrants want to come to the UK?

We follow the boat as it chugs off in the direction of Britain, carrying around 50 people.

The Minck returns to shadowing its progress, but its job is limited to offering help if the boat gets into trouble.

Otherwise, if the engine keeps working, then this flimsy vessel will reach British waters in a few hours’ time.

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