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Boris Johnson today faced new calls to step down as Foreign Secretary after Iranian state TV reportedly claimed he had publicly “confessed” that jailed London mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been training journalists.

The Cabinet minister came under fresh pressure to quit amid fears the Iranian regime was using his remarks to justify the imprisonment of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 38, who has a three-year-old daughter.

Mr Johnson wrongly told a Commons committee last week that the Hampstead mother, who has dual British-Iranian citizenship, was “simply teaching people journalism” during a visit to the country last year.

He clarified his statement on Tuesday, saying that he was referring to Iranian allegations that she had been training journalists. He backed her family and employer, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, in saying she had been on holiday when she was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016.

But Iranian state TV seized on his words in a report yesterday, which Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard Ratcliffe believes she is likely to have watched in prison. BBC Persian journalist Hadi Nili highlighted the report, tweeting: “#Iran stateTV welcomes @BorisJohnson’s remarks about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe as an ‘unintended confession of the UK gov ab the real plot’ behind her trip to Iran & a ‘proof’ of #IRGC’s (Iranian Revolutionary Guard) accusations against her.”

The broadcast is also reported to have said that Mr Johnson had retracted his words about teaching journalism.

His original comments are also believed to have been cited when Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was summoned back to court on November 4, raising fears that her sentence could be lengthened from five years to 16.

The broadcast could have stemmed from regime hardliners seeking to reassert themselves over the case.

In Britain, it sparked fresh anger against Mr Johnson. Former Tory minister Anna Soubry said: “His words were wholly inaccurate. If they are continuing to damage this woman’s well-being and putting her in more peril of continuing unlawful incarceration, then the Foreign Secretary must step down and he must go immediately.”

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry called on Mr Johnson to admit he had got his facts wrong and to apologise unreservedly to Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family.

“If he does not have the basic gumption to do that, he deserves to lose his job immediately,” she added.

Mr Johnson, who spoke to Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif on Tueday, has insisted his remarks have not hampered efforts to free Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Her family have always said that her 2016 visit was for her daughter, Gabriella, to meet her grandparents.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The Iranian foreign minister assured the Foreign Secretary that his earlier remarks at the Foreign Affairs Committee will have no bearing on Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case and that he remains committed to working with the UK government to secure her release on humanitarian grounds.

“The Foreign Secretary made clear in Parliament that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was visiting Iran on holiday and that was the sole purpose of her visit.”

Her local MP, Tulip Siddiq said the Foreign Secretary’s role was to protect British citizens abroad and that he had “failed in the gravest way”. She added: “This is about a young mother’s life, and he must now resign.”

Another MP said: “Remember who the true villains are here.”

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is serving a five-year sentence for allegedly plotting to topple the government in Tehran, although the official charges have never been made public.

Mr Ratcliffe said the state broadcast was a clear “hardening” from authorities over his wife’s case.

He now wants Mr Johnson to step up his efforts over her release and wants the British Embassy to try harder to visit her in jail. Mr Ratcliffe said: “I think he [Mr Johnson], and the Government, need to be aware of the gravity of the situation and make it completely clear to Iran that Nazanin is innocent and making it clear in Iran and make this a personal priority of the Foreign Secretary to bring her home.”