comedian and friend of the ratcliffe family. hi, it s good to see you. how are you? have you spoken to them? oh, i m leaving them alone for a little bit. [laughs] we ve been all my family and friends and supporters of them have been so wrapped up in the story, that i ve been waiting i sent to richard awhile back, i m waiting for the time where i leave you alone. i think that s what they need at the moment. i don t know, i can t wait to speak to them, but i think right now, i m going to give them a couple days to stare at each other. absolutely. yeah, reacquaint each other. richard, to make that promise cup of tea that you ve been yesterday. this is a great picture of them being reunited. did you see the moving pictures of them being reunited at the airport this morning? i mean, it was beyond
that was my thinking because, you know, we iranians it s not new this kind of outrageousness from the iranian government. i mean, why i m in exile. as time went on it was clear that this was in one of those situations where they were playing a little game with someone. this went on and on, and i ve met richard this would ve been about six years ago. i just remember him saying to me, when i said to, when you can speak to your daughter on zoom not zoom, but facebook facetime. he said, well, he s such a common, he said, well, she s forgetting her english. that simple little fact broke me. to know that your child is forgetting the language that they that you love them in.
it s like, a dream. i can articulate what it feels like right now. it s been a dream. particularly as its iranian new year starting on sunday for 13 days. that s around the time when she was taken. as the new year approached again, i felt bleak. i didn t even i just thought, i should call richard, but it s so sad if there s no news. when it happened, i phoned my brother in rome yesterday. poor man, he still can talk to me. i don t think he stopped crying because my brother was the first person to tell me about all this, because nazanin was a facebook friend of his. he was saying to me, i met this guy richard and his wife in iran has been taken away. at the time, this is back in 2016, i said, it s iran, they do this all the time, she ll be out in a couple weeks, don t upset yourself.
reunion with their families. [inaudible] nazanin, with her husband, richard, and cradling her daughter, gabriella. together again, and this time, for good. i ve met the families, they are safe and well. people are in very good spirits. it s been a very difficult 48 hours. the expectation that they would be released, we weren t sure right into the last minute. it s been very emotional, but but, also very happy moment for the families. it was at exactly eight minutes past one this morning that the plane carrying nazanin zaghari-ratcliffe and anoosheh ashoori touched down here. they spent an hour inside with their families behind closed doors, talking and hugging, before leaving to spend the
thank you. tomorrow s here. it s not often that we can have happy news from the minister first thing in the morning. absolutely. those heartwarming pictures of nazanin being reunited with richard and her daughter at 1 am. you smell nice, mommy. you can just imagine the type of day they re having as they get reacquainted. it s joy for the family for anoosheh ashoori and his wife and children who also campaign very hard for his release. fantastic news for them. one duel national hasn t got out yet. they are working very hard on that. the question is starting to come out today about how it all came about. it s really nerve shredding for 24 hours for everybody involved. i m told that even up to the last minutes yesterday, the foreign officer remember wouldn t confirm it, even when it was reported on the ground that they were literally on the plane. they knew until that plane took off, there s a chance at the