British hostage couple at 'breaking point' - son

A British couple detained in Iran are at "breaking point", their son has told the BBC.

Lindsay and Craig Foreman went on hunger strike in May after their phone access was "cut off".

The pair were detained in January 2025 by Iranian authorities - widely viewed as an attempt to get leverage over the UK government.

Lindsay's son Joe Bennett said he feared that they would continue to refuse food "indefinitely".

"My mum and Craig are now risking their lives... because they feel they have run out of other options," he said.

"Hunger strikes are not symbolic gestures. They are acts of desperation."

"They have been pushed to breaking point," Bennett told the BBC.

"Their only agency is to take control of the one thing they can - their body."

Craig is believed to have entered his 20th day of refusing food on Thursday, while Lindsay was on her 11th day after previously pausing the strike.

Bennett told the BBC it was unclear what the Iranian and British sides were negotiating over to secure their release.

"There may be a solution that they [the government is] aware of that they aren't talking about," he said.

"We can't give them [Craig and Lindsay] any positive updates. That's the hardest thing."

The release of British-Iranian nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori in 2022, who were detained in Iran for years, came after the UK settled a £400million tank debt with Iran's government, though British officials never confirmed the link.

Bennett, from Folkestone in Kent, says the couple feels "abandoned" by the Foreign Development and Commonwealth Office (FDCO).

While he says he recognises diplomacy is often invisible and difficult, he has accused officials of not showing any "proactive thinking" or trying "alternative approaches" to secure their release.

"There does not seem to be any sign of progress,

"Just inertia," Bennett added.

The FCDO said Britain's Ambassador to Tehran, diplomats and officials in London have provided consular assistance since the Foreman's arrest last year.

A spokesperson said ministers had met the family and set out "how unjustified and appalling" Lindsay and Craig's incarceration was, alongside the action the government was taking.

"We will continue working to ensure that Craig and Lindsay are returned safely to the UK," they added.

Craig and Lindsay, who are currently detained in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, have been repeatedly misled and denied proper access to legal support and basic welfare items, according to their family.

The couple, from East Sussex, were sentenced in February to 10 years in prison over espionage charges - something the family denies.

"I feel a weird type of grief," Bennett tells the BBC.

"You're grieving someone that you miss but that is still alive.

"We just want them home".

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