In an Urgent Question on the Iran nuclear deal, Conservative MPs raised concerns about Iran’s support and funding for terror groups in the region.
The Urgent Question took place following Iran’s announcement that it would withdraw from some of its commitments made under its nuclear agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with world powers.
Rt. Hon. Robert Halfon MP, Chair of the Education Select Committee, said in a question to Foreign Office Minister Mark Field MP that Iranian funding of regional terror groups has “increased to a major extent”.
He said: “When this agreement was reached, it was understood that Iran would stop supporting and funding Hezbollah and Hamas. Far from that being the case, support for Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist groups—which is also causing instability in the Middle East—has increased to a major extent”.
MP for Hendon, Dr Matthew Offord MP said that as a result of the JCPOA, “the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and others” took the money released from sanctions relief and put it “into death and destruction in the Middle East”. He added: “That has resulted in a destabilised Middle East and a breakdown in international diplomacy”.
Rehman Chishti MP also condemned Iran’s “aggressive behaviour” and “profound negative influence in the region” in Yemen, Syria, Bahrain and Lebanon. He asked the Minister “what specifically will the UK with its partners be doing to check that Iranian aggressive behaviour in the region?”
