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Palestinian militants released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian inmates freed by Israel, completing the latest swap despite fears the Gaza truce deal was near collapse.An AFP journalist saw masked Hamas gunmen parade the hostages on a stage in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Yunis.Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn were made to make statements into a microphone before being handed over to the Red Cross and taken back home to Israeli territory, after being held for more than 16 months.Clutching gift bags given by their captors, the three men, flanked by fighters, called for the completion of further hostage exchanges under the ceasefire deal.Not long after, a busload of Palestinian prisoners departed Israel’s Ofer Prison and were greeted by a cheering crowd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, an AFP journalist reported.More buses took inmates from an Israeli prison in the Negev desert to the Gaza Strip.Saturday’s swap, the sixth since the truce took effect on January 19, came after Hamas had threatened to pause hostage releases over alleged Israeli violations, while Israel had threatened to resume the war if it did.Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war, 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.The latest release led to tears of joy among friends and family members.”Finally, Sasha can be surrounded by his loved ones and begin a new path,” Trupanov’s family said in a statement.Dekel-Chen’s wife, Avital, said in a call to her sister aired by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster: “My breath has returned. He looks so handsome.”Dekel-Chen finally learned the name of his youngest daughter, born two months after his capture.- Next phase -Later in the day, hundreds of Palestinians freed by Israel reached Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, where they made victory signs and waved to a jubilant crowd.In the West Bank, one freed inmate, Amir Abu Radaha, said: “I’ve returned to my family and I’ve returned anew, born again.”Charged with intentionally causing death and being a member of an illegal organisation, according to Israeli justice ministry records, Abu Radaha had spent almost 32 years in jail.According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group, those to be freed included 36 serving life sentences, 24 of whom were due for deportation under the terms of the truce deal.The deportees, with shaven heads, later arrived by bus on the Egyptian side of the border, an AFP correspondent reported.Images broadcast on Israeli media showed Palestinian prisoners ahead of their release wearing sweatshirts featuring the prison service logo, a Star of David, and the slogan: “We will not forget and we will not forgive.”The prisoners tore them off as soon as they reached Gaza and piled them up on a bonfire at the reception point in Khan Yunis.Negotiations on a second phase of the ceasefire, meant to lay out steps towards a more permanent end to the war, are expected to begin next week.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose country is Israel’s top backer and one of the truce mediators, arrived in Israel late Saturday ahead of expected talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the truce.Netanyahu thanked US President Donald Trump Saturday for his “full support” in this week’s standoff with Hamas.Trump had warned that “all hell” would break loose if every Israeli hostage was not released from Gaza by noon on Saturday. “President Trump’s firm stance led to the release of three of our hostages today, despite Hamas previously refusing to release them,” Netanyahu’s office said.Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the United States “must compel” Israel to adhere to the truce deal “if it truly cares about the prisoners’ (hostages) lives”.An Israeli campaign group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, warned against the deal’s “collapse”.- ‘Welcome back’ -A crowd gathered in Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv to watch a live feed of the exchange. Many carried Israeli flags and posters with messages including “Sorry and welcome back” and “Complete the ceasefire”.Last week’s release sparked anger in Israel and beyond after the freed hostages were paraded onstage, with their emaciated state sparking concern over conditions in captivity.There were also fears for Palestinians in Israeli custody after several were hospitalised following their release last week.The Red Crescent said four of those released on Saturday were admitted to hospital in the West Bank.After the swap, the Red Cross said more must be done by all sides for “dignified” hostage-prisoner releases.The ceasefire has been under massive strain since US President Donald Trump proposed a takeover of the Gaza Strip under which the territory’s population of more than two million people would be moved to Egypt or Jordan.Arab countries have come together to reject Trump’s plan.Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,264 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.burs/it/kir/ysm

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel late Saturday on the first leg of a Middle East tour, an AFP journalist reported.Rubio landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and is due to hold talks with Israeli officials on Sunday when he will highlight President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to take control of the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by more than 15 months of war between Hamas and Israel.Coming from Munich, where he took part in a security conference dominated by the Ukraine war, the top US diplomat is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday.Netanyahu, who recently visited Washington where he met Donald Trump, expressed his appreciation for the US president’s “full support” for Israel’s next moves in Gaza.”Israel will now have to decide what they will do,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday.”The United States will back the decision they make!” he added.Rubio arrived in Israel hours after Hamas freed three Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in the sixth swap of a nearly month-old ceasefire.The ceasefire came close to collapse earlier this week and Netanyahu credited “President Trump’s firm stance” with ensuring Saturday’s releases went ahead.In his meetings, the US top diplomat is expected to discuss the second phase of the ceasefire, which should see the release of remaining hostages and a more permanent end to the war but which has yet to be agreed in detail.A source close to the negotiations said mediators hope to begin talks on the second phase “next week in Doha.”Washington has expressed openness to alternative proposals from Arab governments but has stressed that currently, “the only plan is Trump’s.”Trump has proposed taking control of the Palestinian territory and displacing its residents to Egypt or Jordan, both of which strongly oppose the proposal.Trump has warned of repercussions for Egypt and Jordan if they do not allow in the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza.”Right now the only plan — they don’t like it — but the only plan is the Trump plan. So if they’ve got a better plan, now’s the time to present it,” Rubio said on Thursday.Rubio is due to fly on from Israel to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.His talks in Saudi Arabia on Monday are expected to be particularly tough, with Riyadh expected to play a key role in Trump’s regional plans.

Through tears and tight embraces, freed Israeli-American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen on Saturday finally learnt the name of his youngest daughter, born two months after he was abducted by Gaza militants in October 2023.In footage published by the Israeli government, Dekel-Chen’s wife Avital, shedding tears of joy as the two embraced after 16 months apart, told him that the baby girl was named Shahar Mazal, which could translate into “lucky dawn” in English.”That’s perfect,” the 36-year-old responded, moments after he was brought back to Israel.The couple reunited at a military base in the south, where Sagui Dekel-Chen was brought along with two other hostages — Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov, 29, and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn, 46 — all freed on Saturday in the sixth hostage-prisoner exchange of the Gaza ceasefire.The three men had been seized from their homes in Nir Oz, a kibbutz community near the Gaza border, during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.A statement from Dekel-Chen’s family, shared by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group, said: “Our Sagui is home. A friend, son, partner, and most importantly a father, has returned.”After nearly 500 days in captivity, “now he’s finally on Israeli soil, with us,” it added.”In the coming hours, he will begin his rehabilitation process, he will meet his daughters Gali and Bar, and for the first time meet his little daughter, Shahar, who was born while he was in captivity.”The statement said the family plans to keep campaigning “until the last hostage returns home”.In return, Israel released 369 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, most of them residents of the Gaza Strip detained during the war but some of them serving life sentences for attacks against Israelis.Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov, 29, was greeted by his girlfriend and mother who threw themselves into his arms at the reception point. Later, he was expected to be reunited with his grandmother.All three women had been abducted with him but were released in during a first, week-long truce in November 2023. According to Israeli media, it was only after his release that Trupanov learnt of his father’s death in the October 2023 attack.Yair Horn was first reunited with his brother Amos and his mother before going to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv to see his father, who is diabetic like him and had just had a kidney transplant.On the way, the helicopter transporting them flew over the stadium of Horn’s beloved Hapoel Beersheva Football Club in southern Israel.He was wearing the club’s red jersey when he arrived at the hospital, an AFP photographer reported. His brother Eitan Horn remains in captivity in Gaza.

Lebanese authorities said Saturday that more than 25 people have been arrested following an attack on a United Nations convoy that wounded two peacekeepers, including the force’s outgoing deputy commander. UN and Lebanese officials have condemned Friday’s attack, which came as Hezbollah supporters blocked the road to the country’s only international airport for a second night over a decision to bar two Iranian flights from landing.On Saturday, an AFP correspondent said tear gas was fired to disperse a crowd that again blocked the road to the airport after the Iran-backed group called for a sit-in.Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar told reporters that “more than 25 people have been arrested by Lebanese army intelligence”, with another person detained by the security services.”This does not mean these detainees carried out the attack… but the investigations will show who is responsible,” he said, adding that violations would be treated “with all seriousness”.The UN Interim Force in Lebanon has demanded a “full and immediate investigation” after one of its vehicles was set on fire in the attack, which wounded outgoing deputy force commander Chok Bahadur Dhakal, who was heading home to Nepal after completing his mission.UNIFIL deputy spokesperson Kandice Ardiel told AFP a second Nepalese peacekeeper was also wounded.UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the attack.”Such attacks are absolutely unacceptable… The safety and security of UN personnel and property must be respected at all times,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said.”Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law… and may constitute war crimes,” he added.- ‘Civil peace’ -President Joseph Aoun vowed “the attackers will receive their punishment”, and said “security forces will not be lenient with any party that tries to upset stability and civil peace”.Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said free speech was vital but “if there is an attempt to block roads and attack public and private property, unfortunately security forces must confront such rioting”.Videos circulating on social media showed demonstrators, some hooded and carrying Hezbollah flags, attacking a man in military uniform and another in civilian clothes near the torched UNIFIL vehicle.It remains unclear who was responsible for the attack. Senior Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa said “what happened with UNIFIL… is unacceptable”. “Hezbollah has nothing to do with this matter,” he told Beirut-based pro-Iran broadcaster Al-Mayadeen.The group’s ally Amal said “the attack on UNIFIL is an attack on south Lebanon” and that “blocking roads anywhere is an assault on civil peace”.Transport Minister Fayez Rasamny said that the government was trying to bring home citizens stranded in Iran on Lebanese flag carrier Middle East Airlines but that Tehran had not provided the necessary “permissions”.Iran said it was ready for “constructive talks” with Lebanon on restoring flights, during a telephone call between the two countries’ foreign ministers, an Iranian foreign ministry statement said. Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using Beirut airport to transfer weapons from Iran, claims Hezbollah and Lebanese officials have denied.Lebanon’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said Thursday it had “temporarily rescheduled” some flights, including from Iran, until February 18 as it was implementing “additional security measures”.- Deadly Israeli strike in south -The date coincides with the deadline for Israel to complete its withdrawal from south Lebanon and for Hezbollah to vacate its military positions in the region under a ceasefire deal that began in November and was later extended.On Saturday, the Israeli military carried out an air strike on south Lebanon that it said targeted a senior militant from Hezbollah’s aerial unit, accusing him of repeatedly violating the ceasefire.”The terrorist was targeted after repeatedly violating the understandings between Israel and Lebanon over the past few weeks, including his role in leading the launch of UAVs (drones) towards Israeli territory,” the military said.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two people were killed and four wounded in the strike on a vehicle in the Iqlim al-Tuffah area.Both sides have accused each other of repeated ceasefire violations since the truce went into effect late last year.

Amanda Anisimova clinched the first WTA 1000 title of her career with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Jelena Ostapenko in a rain-interrupted Qatar Open final on Saturday.At 41 in the world, Anisimova is the lowest-ranked champion in tournament history and the first American to triumph in Doha since Monica Seles lifted the trophy in 2002.Ostapenko was coming off a resounding victory over three-time champion and world number two Iga Swiatek in the previous round but Anisimova gave the Latvian a taste of her own medicine, showcasing incredible ball-striking and precision.In the first WTA 1000 final to feature two players ranked outside the top 30, Ostapenko and Anisimova traded heavy blows from the baseline, both utilising the same aggressive game style that carried them into the championship match.Anisimova, 23, was the more clinical of the pair in the opening set, as she remained unfazed when her early break of serve was nullified by Ostapenko and broke again in the tenth game to take the lead in 37 minutes.It was the first set Ostapenko dropped all week, the five double faults she committed proving costly against a dialled-in Anisimova.Anisimova looked on her way to a comfortable win when she broke for a 2-1 advantage in the second set but Ostapenko responded immediately and got the set back on serve.Rain suspended play with Ostapenko serving at 3-3, 40-40 and players were taken off court for nearly 25 minutes.Anisimova broke serve upon resumption of play and kept up her all-out attack strategy to wrap up the win after one hour and 21 minutes of play.

As Palestinian inmates released by Israel on Saturday stepped off the buses that took them to the Gaza Strip, some flashed a victory sign and swiftly set fire to sweatshirts they were made to wear in prison.Images broadcast on Israeli media before their release under a ceasefire deal with Hamas showed rows of Palestinian prisoners wearing the sweatshirts emblazoned with the Star of David, the logo of Israel’s prison service and the Arabic phrase “we do not forget and we do not forgive”.The white sweatshirts could be seen on the ground wreathed in orange flames at the prisoners’ reception point in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, an AFP correspondent said.The growing blaze sent plumes of black smoke skywards over the crowds greeting the released inmates.In previous releases under the Gaza deal, Palestinians were let out with plain grey prison tracksuits that did not bear any inscriptions.The vast majority of prisoners released on Saturday, in exchange for three Israeli hostages, were Gazans taken into Israeli custody during the war, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group.The Gaza-bound convoy, facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, dropped off jubilant prisoners who threw victory signs and waved at the crowd welcoming them.Other Palestinians freed Saturday were serving life sentences over attacks against Israelis, with some of them deported upon release.- ‘Largest prison’ -Hamas, the Palestinian group whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war, and ally Islamic Jihad both condemned the Israeli prison service sweatshirts, calling them “racist”.Ibrahim, 61, a freed prisoner who declined to share his last name, said he was sad to see the extent of the destruction wrought by the war in Gaza.He said he had left “prison and suffering”, but the Gaza Strip — for years under a crippling Israeli-led blockade — was “the largest prison in the world”.He said he had been arrested in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, and still did not know why he was jailed for nine months.Abd Abu Zayra, another freed prisoner, told AFP he had Hamas to thank for his release, a moment “of joy and victory mixed with sadness and tragedy”.”We pray that the war ends and that all prisoners are released,” he said.The buses inched forward through the dense crowd, dropping off prisoners one after the other.Paramedics taking the freed prisoners to hospital for check-ups were overwhelmed by the sea of relatives and friends who had gathered to greet them.Muhammad Zaqout, director of Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry, said medical examinations would be conducted for each prisoner.He said many have suffered “torture” and neglect in jail.- ‘Great Joy’ -Tariq Haniyeh, a 22-year-old Gazan, told AFP he had come to Khan Yunis to welcome his relative Loay Haniyeh a year after his arrest at a refugee camp near Gaza City.”It’s a great joy to see the prisoners freed, but I’m very sad because I still have other relatives who are still detained”, said Tariq Haniyeh.He said his family was still in mourning after the deaths of 21 relatives during the war, including distant cousin Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas chief killed by Israel in Tehran in July 2024.Unlike Ismail Haniyeh, Tariq said his relative Loay, had “no connection to any Palestinian faction, and they (Israel) arrested him like thousands of others, without reason”.Those in the last buses, too excited to wait, began their reunion from the bus windows.One man stood on the shoulders of another to kiss a prisoner from the window. A child was hoisted in the air to be embraced.Some stood on their toes to try to reach the hand of a loved one, while some prisoners still on the buses grabbed the microphones of journalists to start recounting their journey.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London to the United States embassy on Saturday to protest against President Donald Trump’s proposal that the US “take over” Gaza.Waving Palestinian flags and placards saying “Hands off Gaza,” several thousand people walked from Whitehall in Westminster over the River Thames to the embassy in Nine Elms.Earlier this month, Trump stunned the world when he suggested the US could redevelop the war-ravaged Gaza Strip into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.His proposal envisages resettling Palestinians elsewhere, with no plan for them ever to return.Other western leaders and the Arab world have widely condemned the idea.Protesters held banners that read, “Stand up to Trump” and “Mr Trump, Canada is not your 51st state. Gaza is not your 52nd.””I think it’s completely immoral and illegal and also impractical and absurd,” 87-year-old Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos told AFP.”You simply cannot deport two million people, especially that the surrounding countries already said that they wouldn’t take them, not out of the goodness of their heart but because it would destabilise those countries.”So it’s not going to happen but it does a lot of damage simply stating that as an endgame,” he added.The march, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), was the 24th major pro-Palestinian protest in Britain’s capital since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.A heavy police presence was deployed as officers kept protesters away from a counter-march called “Stop the Hate”, where participants waved Israeli flags.Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,264 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.On Saturday, Hamas released three Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian inmates freed by Israel, completing the latest swap of a fragile Gaza truce deal.

Palestinian militants released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian inmates freed by Israel, completing the latest swap despite fears the Gaza truce deal was near collapse.An AFP journalist saw masked Hamas gunmen parade the hostages onto a stage before a crowd in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Yunis.Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn were made to make statements into a microphone before being handed over to the Red Cross and taken back home to Israeli territory, after being held for more than 16 months.Clutching gift bags given by their captors, the three men, flanked by fighters, called for the completion of further hostage exchanges under the ceasefire deal.Not long after, a busload of Palestinian prisoners departed Israel’s Ofer Prison and were greeted by a cheering crowd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, an AFP journalist said.More buses took inmates from an Israeli prison in the Negev desert to the Gaza Strip, according to another AFP journalist.Saturday’s swap, the sixth since the truce took effect on January 19, came after Hamas had threatened to pause hostage releases over alleged Israeli violations, while Israel had threatened to resume the war if it did.Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war, 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.The latest release led to tears of joy among friends and family members.”Finally, Sasha can be surrounded by his loved ones and begin a new path,” Trupanov’s family said in a statement.Dekel-Chen’s wife, Avital, said in a call to her sister aired by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster: “My breath has returned. He looks so handsome.”Dekel-Chen finally learned the name of his youngest daughter, born two months after his capture.- Next phase -Later in the day, hundreds of Palestinians freed by Israel reached Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, where they made victory signs and waved to a jubilant crowd.In the West Bank, one freed inmate, Amir Abu Radaha, said: “I’ve returned to my family and I’ve returned anew, born again.”Charged with intentionally causing death and being a member of an illegal organisation, according to Israel’s justice ministry records, Abu Radaha had spent almost 32 years in jail.Israel confirmed it had released a total of 369 prisoners.According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group, those to be freed included 36 serving life sentences, 24 of whom were due for deportation under the terms of the truce deal.The deportees, with shaven heads, later arrived by bus on the Egyptian side of the border, an AFP correspondent said.Images broadcast on Israeli media showed Palestinian prisoners ahead of their release wearing sweatshirts featuring the prison service logo, a Star of David, and the slogan: “We will not forget and we will not forgive.”Negotiations on a second phase of the ceasefire, meant to lay out steps towards a more permanent end to the war, are expected to begin next week.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose country is Israel’s top backer and one of the truce mediators, is due to arrive in Israel late Saturday ahead of expected talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the truce.Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas, said in a statement after Saturday’s hostage release that the United States “must compel” Israel to adhere to the truce deal “if it truly cares about the prisoners’ (hostages) lives”.Israel’s military chief, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, said that even though efforts continue to bring home the remaining captives, the military is “simultaneously preparing offensive plans”.An Israeli campaign group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, warned in a statement against the deal’s “collapse”.- ‘Welcome back’ -A crowd gathered in Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv to watch a live feed of the exchange. Many carried Israeli flags and posters with messages including “Sorry and welcome back” and “Complete the ceasefire”.Last week’s release sparked anger in Israel and beyond after the freed hostages were paraded onstage, with their emaciated state sparking concern over conditions in captivity.There were also fears for Palestinians in Israeli custody after several were hospitalised following their release last week.The Red Crescent said four of those released on Saturday were also transferred to hospital in the West Bank.After Saturday’s swap, the Red Cross said more must be done by all sides for “dignified” hostage-prisoner releases.The ceasefire has been under massive strain since US President Donald Trump proposed a takeover of the Gaza Strip under which the territory’s population of more than two million people would be moved to Egypt or Jordan.Arab countries have come together to reject Trump’s plan.A joint statement from the heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem also said Gazans “must not be forced into exile”.Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,264 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.burs/it/ami

The UK government on Saturday named two Britons detained in Iran as Craig and Lindsay Foreman, with their family saying they are determined to ensure the pair’s “safe return”.The two are currently being held in Kerman, a city and province in southeast Iran, the family said in a statement issued by the British foreign ministry.”This unexpected turn of events has caused significant concern for our entire family, and we are deeply focused on ensuring their safety and well-being during this trying time,” they said.The family added that it was “united in our determination to secure their safe return”.”We truly appreciate the outpouring of support from friends, family, and the community, which has provided us with strength and encouragement as we face this ordeal,” said the statement.The BBC reported that the couple are in their early 50s and were on a motorbike trip around the world when they were detained in January.According to social media posts, the duo crossed into Iran from Armenia in December and were gradually making their way to Australia.Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed on Friday that it was “providing consular assistance to two British nationals detained in Iran” and were in contact with Iranian authorities.That came after Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported on Wednesday that two British nationals were being held in central Kerman province on unspecified security offences.IRNA said British Ambassador Hugo Shorter “met with the two security suspects” at the Kerman prosecutor’s office.The UK government advises against all travel to Iran.It says British and British-Iranian dual nationals are “at significant risk of arrest, questioning or detention”.Several other Europeans are held in custody in Iran, which has conducted multiple prisoner exchanges with Western governments in recent years.In an Instagram post, Lindsay Foreman acknowledged that travelling to Iran was “slightly scary” and they were doing so “despite the advice” of friends, family and the UK foreign ministry.”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,” she wrote.