Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case has seen two steps forward and one step back – now all eyes are on Jeremy Hunt

The dilemma for the new foreign secretary is how to persuade Iranian leaders that it is in their interest to release Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe without somehow suggesting that they were entitled to lock her up for nearly two and a half years in the first place

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was reunited with her daughter Gabriella for just three days before being returned to prison in Iran (Free Nazanin Campaign/AP)

The case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a terrible reminder of the human cost of foreign policy. As we report today, the British Iranian charity worker was taken to the prison clinic when she “blacked out” after being returned to detention in Iran.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s medical crisis happened after her hopes, and those of her husband and supporters, were raised by a three-day release last week during which she was able to spend some time with her young daughter. After her lawyer expressed cautious optimism that her period of limited freedom might be extended, it may be that the disappointment of her return to prison provoked her collapse.

The Independent has been critical of Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, for his inept handling of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case. A low point of his unimpressive tenure at the Foreign Office was his blunder in evidence to a select committee of MPs, in which he suggested that she might indeed have been training journalists in Iran – an “accusation” by the Iranian regime of conduct amounting to spying that Mr Johnson then had to insist was untrue.

To be fair to Mr Johnson, he did the right thing afterwards by apologising and by travelling to Tehran to make representations to the Iranian government. Nor should we lose sight of the fact that it is Iran’s rulers who are in the wrong by imprisoning Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe on trumped-up charges.

It is the Iranian authorities who bear responsibility for the cruel and unjustified separation of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe from her four-year-old daughter. The dilemma for Jeremy Hunt, the new foreign secretary, is how to persuade Iranian leaders that it is in their interest to release Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe without somehow suggesting that they were entitled to lock her up for nearly two and a half years in the first place.

An optimist might suggest that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has taken two steps towards freedom and one step back. Her husband Richard Ratcliffe, a dedicated campaigner, said this week that he felt Mr Hunt had “prioritised Nazanin’s case” more than Mr Johnson had.

And Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s three-day furlough was in itself a hopeful sign; perhaps not wholly negated by the Iranian authorities’ decision to return her to prison.

We can only hope, then, that the fresh attention from the new foreign secretary will prompt a new effort by the international community. The United Nations has repeatedly called on the Iranian government to release Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and has condemned the “flagrant violations of Iran’s obligations under international law”.

Let Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s ill health prompt the world to renew its appeal to Iranian leaders to show some compassion.