At today’s statement in the Commons from the Foreign Secretary on the conflict between Israel and the Iranian regime, a number of Labour MPs pushed the government on the issue of the nuclear threat posed by Iran to Israel and the wider Middle East.
LFI chair Jon Pearce MP asked: “The Iranian regime threatens peace and security around the world: it destabilises the middle east through its terrorist proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis; it supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; and it is sworn to wiping Israel off the face of the earth. It must never be allowed to have a nuclear bomb. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that that aim should be achieved through diplomacy, and that all the world’s efforts must be placed on Tehran to back down, sign a deal and end this conflict?”
To which the Foreign Secretary replied: “Yes, I do.”
LFI vice-chair Damien Egan MP asked: “A painful lesson of Israeli and, indeed, Jewish history is that when someone says that they want to destroy them, we must believe them. The Iranian regime has made its intentions to destroy Israel clear for decades now. We will all be familiar with the term “never again”, which came out of the concentration camps of Europe. Does the Secretary of State agree that this is one of those moments where we can say that never again is now?”
To which the Foreign Secretary replied: “I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has worked on these issues for many years—long before he came to this place. We recognise the threats that Israel is facing, and we also recognise the tremendous threat to not just Israel and the region if Iran were to get a nuclear weapon, and what it would mean for all of us who have worked so hard against nuclear proliferation, as where Iran leads, others would come in its wake. We must stop that happening.”
Wirral West MP Matthew Patrick asked: “When the UN’s nuclear watchdog says that Iran is closing in on the ability to develop up to nine nuclear weapons, I worry. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that it is in our national interests that Iran never acquires those nuclear weapons?”
To which the Foreign Secretary replied: “Yes, 100%.”
Leeds South West and Morley MP Mark Sewards asked: “A full-scale war between Israel and Iran is clearly in no one’s interests, but neither is a nuclear-armed Iran, so what is the Government’s realistic proposal to return to diplomatic solutions as soon as possible and to get Iran to give up its nuclear weapons programme? How realistic is it that Iran will engage in such an effort?”
To which the Foreign Secretary replied: “I can confirm to my hon. Friend that, along with my colleagues in France and Germany, I expect to be engaged with Iran on this very issue in the coming hours.”
You can read the full session here.
