The husband of jailed British woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe urged the Foreign Secretary to escalate the UK government's support for her as the "softly-softly" approach was not working.
Richard Ratcliffe said his hour-long meeting with Boris Johnson about his wife, who is being held in Iran, had been "positive and constructive" and he hoped she would return home by Christmas.
He said his wife was "on the verge of a nervous breakdown" and her mental state had suffered since a gaffe by Mr Johnson about her activities in Iran led to the threat of further charges.
Mr Johnson apologised for the "distress" and "suffering" he caused by his suggestion that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was training journalists in Iran, which has exposed her to the threat of her five-year jail sentence being doubled.
Mr Ratcliffe said the situation was "deeply upsetting for her".
He said: "That's the one point she wanted to make to the foreign secretary - what it's like to watch yourself being called a spy on television every night, which has happened only in the last two weeks, and just wanting him to do what he can to bring her home."
He suggested Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was being used as a "bargaining chip" in a wider diplomatic dispute between the UK and Iran.
Mr Ratcliffe has said her detention is being used by the Tehran government in an attempt to get the British authorities to pay for a £400 million arms deal with Iran struck in the 1970s.
He said: "It is important that the UK honours its international legal obligations so that Iran can honour its legal obligations.
"They are separate things but it is good for the atmosphere if they are all solved."
The Foreign Secretary is due to travel to Iran and Mr Ratcliffe said Mr Johnson was "keen" for him to be in the travelling party.
Mr Ratcliffe called for his wife to be granted diplomatic protection, which would escalate her case to the level of a state-to-state dispute rather than a simple consular case, but the Foreign Office has "reservations" about such a move.
It said the Government was seeking to secure Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release on humanitarian grounds.
A spokesman said: "The Foreign Secretary and officials outlined that the key question is whether diplomatic protection will have a positive impact on the case, given all the representations that have already been made.
"They agreed that lawyers should meet in the coming fortnight to discuss it further.
"They also talked about the Foreign Secretary's plan to visit Iran before the end of the year and Richard Ratcliffe's request to accompany him on that visit.
"The Foreign Secretary said that our overriding principle in handling this case is to secure a permanent family reunion, not a temporary one. Any decision must be guided by that principle.
"The Foreign Secretary concluded the meeting by saying that no stone would be left unturned in the case of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and that of our other dual nationals detained in Iran."
