 Parliamentlive.tv Members of Parliament raised concerns over the Government’s policy position on Iran and its’ Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in a Westminster Hall Debate on Wednesday.
The Debate, secured by Conservative MP for Bassetlaw, Brendon-Clarke Smith, revealed that Iran would be able to produce “two nuclear bombs within months”. Warning that “Iran has never been closer to developing a nuclear weapon”, Mr Clarke-Smith urged the government to consider the sunsetting of restrictions in October which will permit Iran’s development and transfer of missiles. He asked if the Chamber could imagine “a world where Iran is legally able to provide President Putin with ballistic missiles for his murderous attack on Ukraine?” The Rt Hon Sir Gavin Williamson CBE MP added that Iran’s supply of weaponry to Russia is already “undermining all our other efforts” in support of Ukraine.
Many MPs raised concerns over the Government’s position on the IRGC, including Brendan Clarke-Smith, arguing that current sanctions do not go far enough. Mr Clarke-Smith noted that proscription of the IRGC has received “broad parliamentary support” referencing the cross-party letter to the Prime Minister signed by 125 Parliamentarians in solidarity with British-Iranian Mr Vahid Beheshti, who was on hunger-strike outside the FCDO for 72 days. The MP commended Mr Beheshti for his bravery and courage.
The Conservative MP for Henley, John Howell, raised concerns over Iran’s latest human rights abuses. Mr Howell highlighted the “almost 600 executions that had been reported over 2022 – the highest figure since 2015” and detailed the IGRC’s chemical attacks across 91 girls’ schools from November 2022 to March 2023, carried out by the IRGC. “The ever-tightening screw on the rights of women girls”, argued the MP, “points to crimes against humanity”, whilst increasing restrictions over the press, judiciary and LGBTQ+ community are “equally reprehensible” – assisted by the purchase of new Chinese face-recognition technologies.
Mr Howell argued for Iranian Prime Minister Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to be met with “targeted and personal sanctions”, whilst the MP for Bassetlaw contended that US President Joe Biden’s efforts to compartmentalise Iran policy through human rights abuses, the nuclear programme, ballistic missiles and support for terrorism marks a failure of global Western positioning – arguing that the UK should instead pursue an “independent Iran policy and steer our own ship”.
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