THE son of Anoosheh Ashoori has described the jubilant and surreal moment of being reunited with his father after five long years. 

Mr Ashoori, a 67-year-old retired civil engineer, and fellow British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe were released from Iran on Wednesday, after years in a Tehran jail. 

Reacting to his father’s release, Aryan told the Morning Star: “It was pretty surreal. 

“We just hugged each other and joked a bit and defused the intenseness of the situation by laughing. 

“He was gobsmacked. He said he was waiting for this to be a dream, and to wake up and still be in his coffin.”

Aryan said the media attention around the pair’s release has been “intense” and came as a shock to his father, who was not aware of the scale of public interest in their cases. 

“When he arrived, he realised how big this story is. He’s trying to soak it all in. He’s been surprisingly contemplative, he’s not crying … he’s just so gobsmacked.

“We haven’t really rested yet. Maybe next week we’ll be able to sit down and have a moment without all the commotion.”

Following his father’s release, Aryan says the family has received an outpouring of support, with people telling them it had been the “best news they’ve heard all year” amid the “grim” news of 2022. 

“That makes me really happy that we were able to produce some good news and hope for people — that not everything you fight for is in vain.”

Iranian authorities arrested the 67-year-old in 2017 when he was visiting his mother in Tehran, and handed a prison sentence of 10 years over false charges of spying for Israel.

The pair’s release was tied to the payment of a £400 million outstanding debt owed to Iran relating to an arms deal Britain reneged on after the Iranian revolution of 1979.

Aryan said that while he’s happy the British government eventually brought his father home, he questions whether the matter of the debt could have been resolved years ago. 

“It’s obviously a jubilant moment, but at the same time we can’t forget that he and Nazanin have collectively wasted around 10 years of their lives for something that wasn’t their fault. 

“It didn’t have to get to this. I think when the happiness wears off that’s when we’ll think of the trauma.”

“He’s five years older, he looks significantly older. He went in looking like a middle-aged man. Now he looks more like an old man.”

Aryan said he would personally want to see those responsible held to account, but that this was a matter for his father to decide.

He added that Mr Ashoori has not been able to fully appreciate his new found freedom because of the people he’s left behind, including Morad Tahbaz, another dual national, who was not part of the release deal.

Now home, Aryan says his dad wants to “document everything that’s happened to him.”

“He made a lot of art in the prison as a way to cope. He wants to retell his story in a way that will benefit others.”

But in the meantime he’s enjoying the small things he sorely missed over the past five years, including a full English breakfast which he savoured with his eyes closed that morning, Aryan added.