Daily Times

IRAN: Two British-Australian women and an Australian man have been detained in Iran, it has been reported.

According to The Times one of the women was arrested 10 weeks ago with her boyfriend on the charges yet to be known while another woman was sentenced to  jail for 10 years.

Iran has held several dual nationals in recent years, including the British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Australia’s foreign ministry confirmed assistance was being given to the families of the Australians being held.

The paper reports that it is believed the two women are the first British passport holders without dual Iranian nationality to be held in the country in recent years.

The two women are understood to be in Tehran’s Evin jail, where Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 41, a mother of one from London, has been detained on spying charges since 2016.

One of the women being held is reportedly a blogger who was travelling through Asia with her Australian boyfriend.

The second woman is said to be an academic who was lecturing at an Australian university.

Though the charges against the second woman remain unclear, Iran routinely hands out 10-year terms  for spying charges, the Times said.

Some parts of Iran have already been termed as not safe to travel in its travel advice according to the the Australian government

It warns “there is a risk that foreigners, including Australians, could be arbitrarily detained, or arrested”.

Iran’s judiciary said last month it had sentenced a British-Iranian dual national to 10 years for allegedly spying for Israel.

Anousheh Ashouri was detained for allegedly working for the Mossad intelligence agency. Two-year additional  jail term was handed over to him for illicitly acquiring money and fined $36,600 .

Relations between the UK and Iran took a plunge in recent months by a row over the seizure of oil tankers.