Letter from LFI chair Steve McCabe to the Foreign Secretary
Click here for a PDF copy of the above: Letter to Rt Hon James Cleverly M.P
Today, LFI chair Steve McCabe MP has written to the Foreign Secretary raising questions and concerns around the government’s strategy towards Iran, and particularly the expiry of sanctions regarding Tehran’s ballistic missile programme later this year.
In the letter, McCabe warns that “in October, the provisions of UN Security Council 2231 which prohibit Iranian ballistic missile tests and the transfer of related technology are scheduled to lapse, while, under the JCPOA’s implementation deadline, the EU and UK are due to remove their various sanctions related to Tehran’s missile regime”.
He adds that “these two developments pose a very real risk that the Iranian regime and its missile arsenal will receive a massive boost”.
McCabe then set out a series of questions around the government’s strategy towards Iran, including:
- Whether the government plans to allow sanctions against the IRGC’s aerospace force and Iran’s defence ministry front organisations to lapse in October;
- What coordination the UK is doing with European allies to forge a joint position on Iran;
- What plans the government has to restore the “Iran List” identifying companies and organisations in Iran to help UK traders avoid the abuse of exports;
- What plans the government has to close existing or future gaps between the UK, US and European sanctions regimes.
You can read the full letter above.