RUSHES: Dominic Raab and Antony Blinken press conference: Main camera

Dominic Raab and Antony Blinken press conference: Main camera; Press conference part 5 of 11 ENGLAND: London: Westminster: Downing Street: INT Dominic Raab MP (Foreign Secretary) and Antony Blinken (US Secretary of State) question and answer session SOT. QUESTION: Foreign Secretary, Secretary Blinken, good afternoon. Foreign Secretary, first of all, what is your assessment of reports out of Iran yesterday suggesting a deal has been agreed to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and that the tank debt was being paid? And secondly, Foreign Secretary, you are cutting British foreign aid to Yemen, to Syria, to the United Nations Children Fund, the UN Population Fund, the UN AIDS Fund, water, sanitation, hygiene, polio eradication, conflict resolution, humanitarian preparedness, and girls’ education. How can Britain claim to show global leadership at the G7 when it is cutting so much foreign aid? And Secretary Blinken, if I may, what is your assessment of reports of a prisoner swap deal between the U.S. and Iran? Secondly, how much damage do you think has been caused by Britain’s decision to cut its foreign aid budget? And thirdly, do you think the G7 is fit for purpose? Thank you. FOREIGN SECRETARY RAAB: James, thanks for that. Look, we – on the detainees and the situation of Nazanin, obviously we’re working very intensively to try and secure their release. We have been for many months. I would say that it’s incumbent on Iran unconditionally to release those who are held arbitrarily and, in our view, unlawfully. And the reports I’m afraid are not yet accurate in terms of her – the suggestion of her imminent release. On aid, James, we – even after the cuts that we’ve had to make not – because of the pressing COVID situation, the biggest contraction of our economy for 300 years, double the budget deficit we faced after the financial crash, we’re still putting 10 billion pounds in: as a proportion of GDP, still the third bigges...