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Iran

For several years, LFI has warned about the activities and agenda of the Islamic Republic of Iran which not only poses an existential threat to Israel, but also a substantial threat to Britain. 

 

Iran is a hugely destabilising force in the Middle East. Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic revolution was never designed to be confined to within Iran’s borders. Thus, with financial assistance, guidance and training provided by the regime’s ideological warriors, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Tehran has established and commands a broad network of Shia militant proxy armies and terror groups, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthis. Iran’s strategic goal is the completion of an “arc of influence” – a land bridge connecting Tehran to the Mediterranean Sea and the Israeli border. The completion of the land link would allow for the free flow of arms, soldiers and oil from Hezbollah in the Golan to Iran, via Syria and Assadist forces and Shia-controlled Iraq. 

 

Alongside its proxy armies, Tehran has a burgeoning ballistic missile arsenal and appears to be actively pursuing a nuclear weapons programme with repeated and continual breaches of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action. These developments are concerning not simply because Iran has the Middle East’s largest and most diverse missile arsenal, with a range of up to 2,000km but because of its status as the only country that openly calls for the annihilation of another state.  

 

The regime’s pernicious activities overseas are matched by a malign record at home. Over the past four decades, Iran’s human rights record has consistently been one of the worst in the world. Dissent is rarely tolerated and ruthlessly put down. In the protests and clampdown which followed the death at the hands of the “morality police” of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022, approximately 500 protesters, including at least 68 children, were killed by the security forces and almost 20,000 people were arrested. In 2023, Iran executed over 700 people – a significant increase on 2022 – with the widespread use of torture; severe restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly and the rights of women; and the targeting of human rights and union activists, lawyers, journalists, students and minorities, including the LGBTQ+ community and religious minorities. 

 

LFI has led the way in calling for the British government to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. Labour supports proscription, and set out the legislative changes necessary to make it happen. Outlining his decision, the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy stated: “The Iranian regime’s actions against courageous protestors seeking a better future, as well as British nationals imprisoned in Iran and its threats to UK security mean robust action is needed now. The IRGC is behaving like a terrorist organisation and must now be proscribed as such.” Labour reiterated its commitment to proscribe the IRGC at LFI’s 2023 annual lunch. 

 

LFI previously played a leading role in the effort to persuade the British government to proscribe Hezbollah in its entirety in the UK, with our former chair, Joan Ryan, at the forefront of parliamentary efforts. This work came to fruition in January 2019, when the government agreed that there was no meaningful distinction between Hezbollah’s political and military wings and proscribed the former. Another former chair, Dame Louise Ellman, repeatedly highlighted – and called for an end to – protestors parading Hezbollah flags at the annual Al-Quds Day march in London. 

 

LFI also works to highlight the danger posed by Iran’s ballistic missile programme. As Michael Herzog, former head of the IDF’s strategic planning and now Israel’s ambassador to the United States, argued in LFI’s publication on Iran, “missiles would serve as the main delivery system for a nuclear weapon. At the same time, missiles, rockets and, increasingly, armed drones are proliferated by Iran as a central tool in its regional power projection.” 

 

Our chair, Steve McCabe MP, led calls for the British government to act before the Iranian missile ban lapsed, as well as raising concerns about the expiry of sanctions covering Tehran’s ballistic missile programme. 

 

LFI has exposed Iran’s appalling human rights record and the past failures of the government to impose Magnitsky sanctions – which are designed to promote human rights and punish corruption. We were pleased that David Lammy has echoed our calls for employing such sanctions.  

Israel reportedly behind strike on Iranian missile factory

Israel reportedly carried out a drone strike on a missile facility in the Iranian city of Isfahan late on Saturday night. The strike was launched by the Mossad intelligence service at the facility, which is part of Tehran’s ballistic missile programme. Isfahan plays a central role in the programme and Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 2 years31 January, 2023 ago

In Brief: Iran arrests three female journalists in protests crackdown

Iranian authorities have arrested three female journalists in recent days, local media reported on Monday. The arrests came amid months of protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. Iran has been rocked by protests since the death on 16 September of Amini, a 22-year-old woman of Kurdish Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 2 years ago

In Brief: Amid speculation, Saudis reaffirm commitment to two-state normalisation

Saudi Arabia will not normalise ties with Israel without progress towards a two-state solution with the Palestinians, the kingdom’s top diplomat asserted last week. The comments by Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, followed reported discussion of the topic between Israeli prime minister Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 2 years25 January, 2023 ago

Analysis: Tehran executes British national as Labour calls for tougher action

Labour came out in support of proscribing the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps this week, as the Iranian regime continues its attempts to crush protestors. What happened On Saturday, Iran announced that it had executed a dual Iranian-British national, Ali Reza Akbari, who had previously served a deputy defence minister, amid Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 2 years ago

Labour backs IRGC proscription for “maximum pressure” on Iran

At a backbench business debate on the treatment of protestors in Iran yesterday, Labour’s shadow minister for the Middle East, Bambos Charalambous MP, called for a “coordinated international approach” to deal with the Iranian regime that would require “maximum pressure” to succeed. In his comments, Charalambous said that a “coordinated Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 2 years12 January, 2023 ago

Labour MPs raise threat from Iran

A number of LFI MPs and their colleagues have today used a backbench business debate in the House of Commons on the treatment of protestors in Iran to push the government to adopt a more comprehensive strategy towards Iran. In the debate, LFI vice-chair John Spellar MP twice repeated LFI’s Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 2 years12 January, 2023 ago

In Brief: UK reportedly preparing to proscribe Revolutionary Guards

The UK government is reportedly preparing to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, following a longstanding campaign by LFI and many Jewish community groups. The IRGC is a hugely influential apparatus of the Iranian state, spearheading operations against opponents of the regime at home and abroad, especially in entrenching Iran’s influence in Iraq, Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 2 years ago

In Brief: Oman formally bans ties with Israel amid Iran intimidation

The parliament of Oman, which has widely been speculated to be a prime candidate for future diplomatic normalisation with Israel, voted last week to criminalise relations or interactions with “the Zionist entity”. The legislation would “severe any economic, sports or cultural relations” and “prohibit dealing in any way or means, Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 2 years12 January, 2023 ago

In Brief: Iran executes second protestor with more to come

Iran announced that it has publicly hanged a 23-year-old as the second execution linked to the recent anti-government protests. On Monday, 23-year-old Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged in the city of Mashhad after a court convicted him of “enmity against God” after being accused of killing two members of the paramilitary Basij Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 2 years15 December, 2022 ago

In Brief: Iran places 6 UK parliamentarians on new sanctions list

Six UK parliamentarians have been informed by the Foreign Office that they have been placed on Iran’s latest sanctions list. The list, published this week, included LFI vice-chair John Spellar and former shadow Middle East minister and LFI parliamentary supporter Wayne David. They join LFI chair Steve McCabe, who was sanctioned Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 2 years ago

LFI chair writes to Foreign Secretary demanding action on Iran

Steve McCabe, chair of Labour Friends of Israel, has today written to the foreign secretary, urging the UK government to expel Iran’s Chargé d’Affaires in London and downgrade diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic, proscribe Tehran’s ideological army, and widen sanctions on the regime’s executioners and propagandists. In his letter Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 2 years13 December, 2022 ago

Labour MPs demand action against Iran at FCDO Questions

At today’s Foreign Office Questions, a number of Labour MPs demanded more action from the government to punish the Iranian regime for its treatment of protestors in recent months. LFI vice-chair John Spellar once again called for the government to proscribe the IRGC, the Iranian regime’s ideological terror army. “What Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 2 years13 December, 2022 ago

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