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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.  

LFI secures parliamentary debate on Hezbollah proscription

LFI chair Joan Ryan has secured a cross-party parliamentary debate on the proscription of Hezbollah on Thursday 25 January. LFI has long called for the complete proscription of the terrorist group Hezbollah. Currently, the UK only proscribes Hezbollah’s ‘military wing’, but not its ‘political wing’. The UK’s distinction is not Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 7 years11 January, 2018 ago

Ambassador Mark Regev’s Speech to LFI Annual Lunch 2017

*** CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY *** HMA Mark Regev, Israeli Ambassador, speech to Labour Friends of Israel Annual Lunch 2017  Chief Rabbi, Lords and Ladies, Members of Parliament, Distinguished guests, It is a real pleasure to be back here at Central Hall for LFI’s Annual Lunch. I would like to begin by Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 8 years30 November, 2017 ago

Joan Ryan MP, LFI chair, speech to LFI Annual Lunch 2017

Rt Hon Joan Ryan MP, LFI chair, speech to Labour Friends of Israel Annual Lunch 2017  Chief Rabbi, Ambassador Regev, friends Thank you to all of you for being here today. In particular, I want to thank Sir David Garrard and Isaac Kaye, our long-standing lunch sponsors. I also want to Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 8 years28 November, 2017 ago

Analysis: Iran secures “arc of influence”

  Iran is this week on the verge of completing its much-vaunted “arc of influence” – a land bridge connecting Tehran to the Mediterranean Sea and the border with Israel – with the capture of the Syrian border down of al-Bukamal, close to the frontier with Iraq. The Islamic republic’s Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 8 years23 November, 2017 ago

LFI vice-chair Louise Ellman presses police over Hezbollah flags at Al-Quds march

This article first appeared in the JewishNews.  An MP who is vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel has pushed the Metropolitan Police to raise concerns about protesters waving Hezbollah flags at the annual Al-Quds Day march in London. Louise Ellman MP met police chiefs and expressed concern that marchers were Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 8 years21 November, 2017 ago

Analysis: Lebanon: a province of Iran?

The sudden and dramatic resignation of Lebanon’s prime minister on Saturday graphically demonstrated the grip Iran – through its proxy Hezbollah – holds over the country. Saad Hariri, the son of assassinated prime minister Rafik Hariri, quit with an angry statement which fired a series of broadsides against the Islamic republic and Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 8 years9 November, 2017 ago

LFI chair Joan Ryan MP raises Hezbollah in Parliament

During October’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office questions in the House of Commons, LFI chair Joan Ryan MP questioned Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt MP on the threat Hezbollah poses to both Israel and the Middle East. Joan asked “does the Minister agree that Hezbollah poses a serious threat to Israel’s Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 8 years17 October, 2017 ago

Analysis: Hezbollah prepares for war

  This week’s warning by Hassan Nasrallah that Jews should flee Israel before it is devastated by war is just one of the Hezbollah leader’s many sabre-rattling utterances. In February, he warned that there would be “no red lines” in any future conflict between the terror group and Israel. In April, he Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 8 years5 October, 2017 ago

Government minister’s comments dent hopes of Hezbollah ban

This article was originally posted on the Jewish Chronicle. Click here to read the original.  A government minister has cast doubt on the likelihood of a ban being imposed on Hezbollah’s terrorist wing in Britain. Nick Hurd, the Police Minister, told a Labour MP who raised concerns about the Al Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 8 years18 July, 2017 ago

Analysis: Calling out Hezbollah

The green and yellow flags, adorned with an upturned machine gun, which were on display on the streets of central London last weekend were those of the anti-Semitic terror group, Hezbollah. The flags have become a regular feature of the annual Al Quds Day parade through the city, but, given the Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 8 years21 June, 2017 ago

Answers and action on Hezbollah

LFI vice-chair Louise Ellman is pressing for answers on how Hezbollah flags came to be flying in the centre of London last weekend and taking action to help ensure it never happens again. She has written to the home secretary, Amber Rudd, asking her to use powers under the Terrorism Act Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 8 years21 June, 2017 ago

Analysis: Trump’s new “special relationship”

There are few better examples of the yawning gap between Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric and governing reality than his approach towards Israel. After eight years of Barack Obama’s alleged cool indifference, the Israeli right were led to believe they would have a “true friend” in the White House once again: one who would Read more…

By lfiIsrael, 8 years25 May, 2017 ago

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