Zaghari-Ratcliffe's local MP Tulip Siddiq again condemned Johnson following the clip being aired, calling the segment "chilling" in a statement to BuzzFeed News.

She said: "I have repeatedly raised the importance of details and words with Boris Johnson, who seems unwilling or unable to deal with a case of this importance. The country has put up with blunder after blunder from Boris Johnson over the years, but the joke has stopped."

Siddiq called Johnson a "laughing stock", and said: "His role is to protect British citizens abroad, and he has failed in the gravest way. This is about a young mother’s life, and he must now resign."

Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard Ratcliffe has expressed concern about his wife appearing on state TV and on the front page of a number of Iranian newspapers.



"They repeated the earlier mistakes – quoting the foreign secretary as saying she was in fact working in Iran, but also noted that foreign minister Zarif had called the judiciary to ask for Nazanin’s release,” he said, adding that he hoped that the intense media attention would help secure her release.

Earlier this week, Siddiq called on the foreign secretary to fly out to Iran – where the mother of one has been detained for 18 months – and bring her home.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said Johnson had created the crisis and "had a moral duty to resolve it".

In a statement to BuzzFeed News, she said Johnson needed to "stop pretending that his words have had no impact in Tehran, when they clearly have".

"He must do what he has refused to do for the past two days, and say plainly: 'I got my facts wrong. Nazanin should not be punished for my mistake. And I apologise unreservedly to her and her family.' If he does not have the basic gumption to do that, he deserves to lose his job immediately."



A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said that the Iranian foreign minister had "assured" Johnson his remarks did not have any bearing on her case.

Iran's foreign secretary remains “committed to working with the UK government to secure her release on humanitarian grounds,” the statement said.