CFI Parliamentary Chairmen Rt. Hon. Stephen Crabb MP and Rt. Hon. The Lord Pickles, and CFI Honorary President Lord Polak CBE, have urged Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to support an extension to the UN arms embargo on Iran, describing the UK’s decision to abstain on a recent UN Security Council Resolution to extend the embargo as “deeply regrettable”.
They underline that “the upcoming gathering of the Joint Commission presents an important opportunity to hold Iran to account”, emphasising that “we must remain clear-sighted about the risk Iran poses to the region and ensure that Iran’s failure to comply with requests from the IAEA does not go unchallenged”.
In a letter to the Foreign Secretary today, the Conservative parliamentarians contend that “Iran has violated both the letter and spirit” of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) Nuclear Deal since the agreement was signed in 2015.
Reflecting on the Foreign Secretary’s previous description of the JCPoA as a “hollow shell” and his condemnation of Iran’s “systematic non-compliance”, the parliamentarians assess that “diplomatic good-faith efforts since the E3 triggered the dispute resolution mechanism (DRM) in January have regrettably been in vain; Iran has continued to flagrantly breach its commitments under the JCPoA”.
Rt. Hon. Stephen Crabb MP, Rt. Hon. The Lord Pickles and Lord Polak CBE observe that “despite these extensive violations, the UN conventional arms embargo on Iran is set to expire on 18th October 2020 in line with the sunset clauses in UN Security Council Resolution 2231” which endorsed the JCPoA. “In only two months’ time, Iran will be permitted to procure advanced weaponry which will no doubt end up in the hands of Iran’s regional proxies including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shia militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen”, which “directly harms UK foreign interests and threatens our regional allies”.
“The UK Government’s recent decision to abstain on a UN Security Council resolution to extend the arms embargo is therefore deeply regrettable”, they write.
Urging the UK Government to “support efforts to extend the embargo”, the parliamentarians add that the UK should “ultimately pursue a new agreement in coordination with other major powers to address ongoing concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme and regional activities”.
They wish the Foreign Secretary “a successful visit to Israel this week”, where “no doubt these issues will be high on the agenda”.
