“The British government released individuals who were previously described by the government as terrorists acting on behalf of foreign states.” — Abbas Araghchi. Our verdict: Unverified.
Abbas Araghchi made the claim in a statement reported by WANA on 1 October 2026.
Our verdict
Unverified
We could not find enough public evidence to confirm or refute this claim. Abbas Araghchi did say it, but we found no independent confirmation that the British government released people it had previously described as terrorists acting for foreign states.
Know something that settles it? Send us evidenceWhat we found
The claim has two parts. The first is that Abbas Araghchi said it, and the second is that the British government actually released such individuals. A report by WANA on 1 October 2026 confirms the first part: it quotes Araghchi saying exactly that. But we could not find any official British or American government publication, court record or reputable news report that confirms the second part. The official documents we examined deal with laws, sanctions and policy, and none of them mention any such release. Because the statement itself is confirmed but the underlying event is not, we rate the claim unverifiable. We could not find enough public evidence to confirm or refute it. If you have documents, court records or official statements about these releases, please send them to us.
The evidence
- Background
WANA reported that Abbas Araghchi publicly stated that the British government released individuals it had previously described as terrorists acting on behalf of foreign governments. This confirms he made the statement, but it does not confirm that the releases happened. [1]
What we could not confirm
- Whether the British government actually released individuals it had previously described as terrorists acting on behalf of foreign states.
- Which individuals were allegedly released, and when.
- Any official British government statement, court record or reputable news report confirming or denying the releases.
How we checked
We looked at the original report of Araghchi's statement and searched official UK and US government publications on legislation, sanctions and policy, as well as court records and reputable news sources, for any mention of such releases. We reviewed 1 relevant source.
Sources
- [1]wanaen.com · Araghchi: Britain Is Looking for the Culprit in the Wrong Place - WANA · October 1, 2026
- [2]Photo: kremlin.ru / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Help us check this claim
We could not find enough public evidence to confirm or refute this claim. If you know of an official record, dataset, transcript or report that settles it, send us the link. We review every submission and update this fact check when the evidence changes the picture.
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