The UK Foreign Office has issued a red warning urging British nationals to avoid “all travel” to Iran after a couple in their fifties were detained on espionage charges.

Craig and Lindsay Foreman set off from London in October 2024 on a round-the-world motorcycle quest, to explore “different cultures” and “document global perspectives”.

Mrs Foreman was said to be carrying out a research project as part of the journey, asking people what constitutes a “good life” and was due to present her findings at a conference on positive psychology in Brisbane in July this year.

The pair were apprehended several weeks ago by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman, accused of entering the country on a tourist visa, but working with covert institutions linked to Western intelligence agencies.

The UK government is now being urged to act quickly to try and free the pair and avoid any repeat of the situation that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe encountered when she too was wrongly locked up and endured six years of hell in an Iranian prison. 

Failed to check-in at hotel

Social media posts indicate that the Foreman’s crossed into Iran from Armenia around the turn of the year, with the intention of reaching Pakistan early January.

They are known to have stayed in the Iranian capital Tehran, as well as the cities of Tabriz and Isfahan and on 3 January Craig, a 51-year-old carpenter, and Lindsay, a 52-year-old psychologist, posted a YouTube video of themselves in the historic city of Yazd, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

It is from there that the pair are thought to have travelled to Kerman, but they failed to check in to their hotel.

Ambassador attends meeting

After several weeks of receiving no information as to their whereabouts, the British ambassador to Iran, Hugo Shorter, met the two in Kerman in custody, in the presence of officials from Iran’s justice department and the governor’s office.

He was informed that the pair had been accused of spying and having links to intelligence agencies of “hostile countries” and collecting information from several Iranian provinces.

The Foreign Office released a statement saying: “We are united in our determination to secure their safe return”.

Aware of risks involved

The couple reportedly were fully aware of the extreme dangers that the trip presented, as they made their way through Iran and posted a week before their detention: “Despite the advice of friends and family, we’ve chosen to keep moving forward.

“Why? Because we believe that, no matter where you are in the world, most people are good, kind humans striving for a meaningful life.

“Yes, we’re aware of the risks, but we also know the rewards of meeting incredible people, hearing their stories, and seeing the breathtaking landscapes of these regions, could far outweigh the fear.”

Family deeply concerned

Worried family members issued a statement expressing their “significant concern” adding: “We are deeply focused on ensuring their safety and well-being during this trying time.

“We are actively engaging with the British Government and relevant authorities, working diligently to navigate the complexities of this matter, but are united in our determination to secure their safe return.”

“Bargaining chips”

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have a history of detaining and releasing western nationals on security charges.

The country has long been accused of holding those with Western ties as prisoners to be used as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West, although the Iranians deny such allegations.

It has been said before that simply being British, or holding a European passport, puts a target on individuals and can be enough to bring about a detention without any crime being committed.

It is surmised that they probably took photos of something, which has been used as a pretext for their arrest, and now the likelihood is that authorities are attempting to get something out of the UK in return for their release.

Past lessons “need to be learned”

Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe said the dangers of travelling to the Middle Eastern country would be “a lot clearer” if Foreign Office travel advice reflected “the risks of hostage-taking” that existed there.

His wife was arrested by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran on 3 April, 2016, after a holiday visit.

Mr Ratcliffe went on hunger strike twice as part of his campaign for Nazanin’s release, which took six agonising years and was only secured after the UK agreed to settle a historic £400 million debt, dating back to the 1970’s.