Iran-Israel Conflict Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateChris Coghlan
Main Page: Chris Coghlan (Liberal Democrat - Dorking and Horley)Department Debates - View all Chris Coghlan's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(4 months, 3 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberThe phrase that I have used about no military endeavour being able to achieve this without diplomacy has been used by the US and by the Israelis themselves.
Chris Coghlan (Dorking and Horley) (LD)
While I deplore the alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza, that should not cloud our view of the Iranian regime. As a British diplomat covering Syria, I saw how the Iranian regime was directly complicit in the torture and murder of hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians. I was a British soldier in Iraq in 2020, and the British Lance Corporal Brodie Gillon was killed by the Iranians a few months before I arrived. There have been too many catastrophic British foreign policy decisions in the middle east this century, so I commend the Foreign Secretary for his commitment to a realist and hard-headed approach. Does he agree that the first question for any policy choice should be: where does it all end?
I am grateful that the hon. Gentleman, though new to this House, brings so much experience. I agree with his sentiment.