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 international approach to sanctions” was needed in order to be fully effective changing behaviour against protestors in Iran itself, which would required “maximum pressure” through the use of sanctions.
Charalambous also highlighted the threat posed by the Iranian regime “on British soil”, pointing to the willingness of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps “to threaten the lives of journalists working in Britain”. In response, he said, the government should confirm that the government did intend to proscribe the IRGC – which the minister failed to do.
Furthermore, Charalambous set out Labour’s concerns about the Iranian regime’s “proxies operating in the UK in the form of Islamic cultural centres with charitable status” which have reportedly been working to undermine the protestors, he claimed. In response, he said, the government should “carry out an investigation into these cultural centres” and called for action should they be found to be “acting with malice against the Iranian diaspora”.