UK Parliament
Eight Conservative MPs this week raised concerns about Iran’s escalating nuclear violations during a Westminster Hall debate secured by CFI Parliamentary Chairman (Commons), Rt. Hon. Stephen Crabb MP.
Minister for the Middle East, Rt. Hon. James Cleverly MP, warned that Iran’s nuclear programme is “sadly, more advanced and worrying than it has perhaps ever been”. Noting that it is “impossible to overstate the severity of Iran’s actions”, he maintained that the UK would continue to join the Biden administration, France and Germany in trying to bring Iran back into compliance with the JCPOA nuclear deal.
He stated: “The diplomatic door remains currently open, but Iran must urgently return to talks in Vienna and engage in good faith”. Opening the debate, Crabb said “we do need to show as an alliance of freedom-loving nations that we continue to consider the full range of options in response to Iran’s strategy”.
Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers MP, CFI Vice-Chair, questioned: “What more belligerent violations are needed before the international community wakes up and snaps back those sanctions which have been lifted. And I’d appeal to the minister, please don’t reward Iran for breaking its promises. Please do not reward Iran for stepping up its rush for nuclear weapons. And please accept that trying to revive this deal in its current form amounts to appeasement”.
Former Middle East Minister, Rt. Hon. Dr Andrew Murrison MP, said that “[Prime Minister] Naftali Bennet and [Foreign Minister] Yair Lapid are absolutely right to be deeply concerned about what’s going on and…the State of Israel has to be protected from what is an existential threat from…Iran at the moment.
Education Select committee Chairman, Rt. Hon. Rob Halfon MP asserted: “I have warned before that a nuclear Iran would not just mean a nuclear Iran; it means a nuclear Hezbollah, a nuclear Hamas and so forth. It sickens me to the stomach that we now stand on the edge of this becoming a reality”.
Andrew Bowie, MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, called for proscription of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: “At the nexus of Iran’s regional destabilisation sits the IRGC… I believe it is time the UK followed the United States in proscribing the IRGC and urge the Minister to follow this up with his Home Office colleagues”.
Bury South MP, Christian Wakeford urged: “For the sake of the safety of our close allies on the Middle East this issue needs to remain at the forefront of our foreign policy agenda… But the mendacious and pernicious Iranian regime is also a real threat to Jewish communities in my Bury South constituency and beyond”.
