Today, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat MBE MP, urged the UK to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and take a leading role in negotiating a new nuclear agreement.
Commenting on the Government’s response to the committee’s report “No prosperity without justice: the UK’s relationship with Iran”, the Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling said that the Government was “receptive to the recommendations of the Committee” but “falls short of making concrete commitments”.
The IRGC’s actions “consistently meet the criteria of a terrorist organisation”, he said. “Their role sowing the seeds of instability, and causing pain and suffering throughout the region, should not be ignored”.
He added: “I remain hopeful that the Government will follow our recommendation on the proscription of the IRGC”.
Mr Tugendhat said it was “disappointing” that the Government “has not committed to fostering a replacement to the JCPOA as some seem to believe the agreement, now severely undermined, is the answer”. “The UK is uniquely placed to take a leading role in negotiating a new deal that delivers peace and prosperity for the Iranian people”, he underlined.
In its response to the report, the UK Government expressed “deep concern” over Iran’s “continued non-compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA”. The Government said it would not comment on whether the IRGC is under consideration for proscription.
CFI “strongly endorsed” the Foreign Affairs Committee’s call to proscribe the IRGC. The report “reinforces the UK’s long-overdue need for a strategic rethink in our approach to Iran”, CFI’s Parliamentary Chairmen said following the report’s publication in December 2020.
