Johnson faced calls to quit after telling a parliamentary committee last week that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was training journalists in Iran when she was arrested for alleged sedition last year -- a comment her employer and her family insisted he correct.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 38, appeared in court on Saturday to face further charges, first brought in early October, that carry a 16-year jail term.

The Iranian judiciary issued an online article on Sunday saying Johnson's comments proved that she was not on holiday, as her family said, backing the justification for new charges.

In the call with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Johnson said the suggestion that his remarks "shed new light" on the case was "absolutely not true" as it was clear she had been on holiday, a Foreign Office spokesman said.

Johnson had been seeking to make the point that "he condemned the Iranian view that training journalists was a crime, not that he believed Iranian allegations that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been engaged in such activity", the spokesman said.

Johnson said his remarks "could form no justifiable basis for further action in this case" and called for her release on humanitarian grounds.

Johnson said he planned to visit Iran before the end of the year to discuss the case further.

Source:AFP