The son of a British woman detained in Iran hopes the US will include hostage diplomacy as it seeks a nuclear deal with Iran.
Lindsay Foreman is detained in Tehran’s Evin Prison after she was arrested in January 2025 while travelling through Iran on a motorbike journey with her husband Craig.
Her son, Joe Bennett, said that US-Iranian talks in Geneva this week were also an opportunity to seek the release of Ms Foreman and other foreign detainees.
“For any country that engages in peace talks, hostage negotiations should also be a part of it. It shouldn’t just be peace talks [without addressing] human rights violations and hostage-taking,” Mr Bennett told The National.
“Part of the package should be the release of prisoners who are being held for nothing else than leverage."
The talks in Geneva concluded on Tuesday with an agreement being reached on the “guiding principles", according to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi who led the country's delegation. US diplomats Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in Switzerland for this second round of talks, which were mediated by Oman.
The deal would see Iran diminish its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, but US officials are also seeking to end Iran’s military support for regional proxies and curb its ballistic missiles programme. US President Donald Trump has also described regime change in Iran as “the best thing that could happen".
The talks began after nationwide protests were brutally quashed by the regime in January. Rights groups say tens of thousands of demonstrators were killed by the Iranian authorities in days. Israeli and US air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June last year also sought to weaken Tehran and press it to end its nuclear armament programme.
Mr Bennett said he’d had no information from the UK government about whether hostage diplomacy or the plight of his parents would be raised in the nuclear talks. This gave him the impression that the UK was a passive player in the global impasse with Iran.
“It’s leaving the fate of UK citizens in the hands of another state,” he said.
While he acknowledged the UK might be applying pressure behind closed doors, he said the lack of clarity from British diplomats to the families of detainees had been frustrating. “A lot could be happening behind the scenes but we don’t get exposed to information that shows us this could be happening,” he said.
Iranian authorities have accused Ms Foreman and her husband of espionage and seeking to undermine the country. But their family say they were simply visiting Iran while conducting research for a film about the meaning of happiness around the world.
Mr Bennett said his mother had received death threats in prison recently, as tensions in Evin rise over the nation-wide protests. ”Some people have a hatred for the US and the UK, and some of that was directed towards my mum,” he said.
“She tries to understand. She was there [in Iran] trying to do good. She’s been shown the darkness."
