Chair of the Defence Select Committee Rt. Hon. Tobias Ellwood MP has today underlined the reasons why he joined over 80 Conservative MPs and Peers in signing a CFI-coordinated letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging greater UK action to curb the threat of “rogue state” Iran.
In an article published on ConservativeHome, Mr Ellwood writes that “the strength of feeling among the Conservative ranks is clear to see”.
He states: “There has long been widespread concern about Iran’s malign activities throughout the region, but it has become increasingly apparent that the UK’s response has failed to adequately meet the challenge”.
The MP for Bournemouth East adds: “The signatories were united in their view that the United Kingdom should have supported the efforts of the United States to secure an extension to the conventional arms embargo at the United Nations in August”.
Criticising the UK’s abstention in the UN vote, he says: “I fear that the UK’s abstention alongside France and Germany has regrettably facilitated the Chinese and Russians in their quest to sell advanced weaponry to Tehran’s fundamentalist regime”.
Mr Ellwood warns that “the UK now needs to work urgently with its allies to enforce existing resolutions more rigorously” adding, “looking ahead, there needs to be a clear-sighted approach to Iran from the Government”.
Condemning Iran’s financing of terrorism and hostile actions towards Britain, the former Middle East Minister writes: “Time and again, Iran has chosen the path of a rogue state. At the time of the JCPOA’s signing, British officials spoke of an opportunity to reset relations. Iran had no such intentions, as most dramatically illustrated by the detention of our Ambassador for attending a memorial to the victims – including Britons – of a Ukrainian passenger jet in January. Not to speak of the continued imprisonment of British nationals on spurious and indefensible grounds”.
Stating that “Iran’s leadership has not earned the benefit of the doubt”, he calls for further sanctions against the regime and a new framework to curb Iran’s nuclear activities.
He adds: “The UK is well placed to bridge the US with the EU and push for a new, broad framework. The framework must provide unprecedented regulation of Iran’s nuclear activities, an end to Iran’s support for terrorism and its ballistic missile programme – the primary means for delivering a nuclear warhead”.
Read the full article here.
Last week, more than 80 Conservative parliamentarians wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson with concerns over the upcoming expiration of the United Nations arms embargo on Iran and expressing “regret” at the UK Government’s failure to support efforts to extend it, in a letter coordinated by the Conservative Friends of Israel.
The parliamentarians, including Chairmen of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and the Defence Select Committee and a series of former Cabinet members, sought assurances on UK Government policy towards Iran.
The letter called for the Prime Minister to address seven questions relating to UK Government policy on Iran, including clarification on possible UK sanctions in response to continued Iranian non-compliance with the JCPOA nuclear deal and a call for the UK to consider proscribing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror organisation.
